Franklin Resources Inc

Franklin Templeton completed its acquisition of 250 Digital and formally established Franklin Crypto, a dedicated active digital-asset management division, in June 2026. The move expands Franklin's capabilities across institutional crypto strategies, separately managed accounts and digital-asset investment solutions, building on its presence in digital assets since 2018. The company's Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund had more than $650 million represented on the Stellar blockchain as of April 2026, while BENJI investor participation rose more than 140% over the preceding two years. Franklin also partnered with MoonPay to connect its Benji platform with MoonPay Trade's infrastructure and collaborated with Binance on an off-exchange collateral program using tokenized money market fund shares. The company's alternatives AUM reached $295.4 billion as of July 31, 2026, up from $258.9 billion a year earlier, while total AUM stood at $1.80 trillion.

Franklin Templeton has begun distributing its tokenized money market fund through HashKey Exchange, giving the Hong Kong platform's clients access to a blockchain-wrapped pool of U.S. government debt. The Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Liquidity Fund, traded as grBENJI, invests primarily in U.S. government money market instruments and dollar cash assets, and is now available on HashKey's Earn channel. Franklin Templeton manages $1.8 trillion in assets and has run a tokenized version of the fund since 2021, when it became the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to use a public blockchain to record share ownership. The product is available to professional investors only and is not available for offering to the public in Hong Kong. RWA.xyz currently lists the BENJI token yielding around 3.6% over seven and 30 days at a net asset value of $1.00, with just over 1,100 holders, though published figures for the fund's size vary considerably depending on whether a single token or the whole suite is counted.

Actively managed exchange-traded funds now account for 42% of every dollar flowing into ETFs, up from 26% in 2024. In the first quarter, investors poured $245.2 billion into US-listed active ETFs, and last month they added nearly $63.6 billion, bringing the year-to-date total to $466.8 billion, well ahead of the $263 billion pace in the comparable 2025 period. BlackRock controlled $3.6 trillion in active assets under management as of the end of June, and actively managed ETF assets are expected to swell to $4.2 trillion globally by 2030. T. Rowe Price is leveraging its active mutual fund experience by introducing ETF versions of popular funds, while Franklin Templeton's pivot to ETFs has helped its stock rise 42.2% year to date.

The Investment Management Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published a no-action letter on August 12 stating that it would not recommend enforcement action against Franklin Templeton if registered funds invest in the blockchain-based money market fund Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund for cash management purposes. This makes it easier for existing registered funds such as mutual funds and ETFs to use the on-chain money market fund as a cash management tool. The fund, generally known as BENJI, invests at least 99.5% of its total assets in U.S. government securities, cash, and repurchase agreements fully collateralized by U.S. government securities or cash, and seeks to maintain a net asset value of one dollar per share, although this is not guaranteed. According to the SEC, BENJI uses an integrated recordkeeping system managed by Franklin Templeton Investor Services, Franklin Templeton's registered transfer agent, combining internal bookkeeping systems with transaction records on the blockchain to maintain official shareholder records, and it also has administrative authority to correct erroneous records or unauthorized transactions and to freeze, transfer, or restore records. The staff's view relates to Section 17(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 and Rule 17f-2, and states that it would not recommend enforcement action for noncompliance with Rule 17f-2(b), (e), and (f) if certain conditions are met. The letter also makes clear that this is not a legal exemption itself, but a staff view that is not a formal rule or legal determination by the Commission.

Franklin Templeton Canada announced enhancements to all Franklin Quotential Portfolios by adding private market investments, including real estate and private credit. The additions aim to broaden diversification, reduce portfolio volatility, and improve long-term outcomes for Canadian investors. The portfolios will initially access two private market strategies managed by Franklin Templeton affiliates Clarion Partners and Benefit Street Partners, which are part of Franklin Templeton's US$294 billion alternatives business. Each Quotential Portfolio has received exemptive relief from the Ontario Securities Commission to invest up to 10 percent of its assets in alternative investment vehicles, and the investment strategies of all five portfolios are being amended to permit such investments and expand the use of derivatives.

Franklin Resources, Inc. reported third-quarter 2026 results showing higher revenue, net income and earnings per share, alongside a US$33.0 million impairment of intangible assets, a continued share repurchase program and an upcoming corporate name change to Franklin Templeton, Inc. on August 17, 2026. The company also refreshed its leadership, expanded financing through a new US$1.50 billion revolving credit facility and a senior unsecured 2036 note, and outlined growth plans including stronger ETF and Asia Pacific capabilities, signaling an effort to simplify its product platform and support its global expansion plans. The stock rose 7.3% following the announcements.

Franklin Resources reported better-than-expected results for the second quarter of calendar year 2026, with revenue rising 14.3% year on year to $2.36 billion, exceeding analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Non-GAAP earnings per share came in at $0.72, an 8.3% beat over the consensus estimate of $0.66. Pre-tax profit was $370.9 million, representing a 15.7% margin. Despite the beats, shares traded down 1.2% to $32.76 in the immediate aftermath of the announcement.

Franklin Resources, Inc. announced net income of $171.5 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, compared to $268.2 million, or $0.49 per diluted share, in the previous quarter and $92.3 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, a year earlier. Adjusted net income was $386.3 million, or $0.72 per diluted share, versus $384.5 million, or $0.71, in the prior quarter and $263.4 million, or $0.49, in the same period last year. The company reported long-term net inflows of $18.4 billion, bringing fiscal year-to-date long-term net inflows to $63.3 billion, and assets under management reached a record $1.8 trillion. The company also announced it will change its corporate name to Franklin Templeton, Inc., effective August 17, 2026, with no impact on its stock ticker BEN or capital structure.

BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Goldman Sachs, and SoFi are publicly backing the Clarity Act, a crypto market structure bill, with only about a week and a half left before the Senate recess begins on August 8th. The asset managers are supporting the legislation while banks led by Jamie Dimon and JPMorgan oppose it, creating a major divide on Wall Street. The firms backing the bill seek regulatory clarity on jurisdiction between the SEC and CFTC, investor protections, and rules for a competitive American market. Separately, Morgan Stanley launched Ethereum and Solana exchange-traded products with fees of .14%, or 14 bips, and plans to pass staking rewards back to investors. Core Scientific signed a 15-year agreement with AMD for approximately 530 megawatts across five states, representing more than 14 billion in potential contracted revenue, as the company shifts focus from Bitcoin mining to AI data centers.

Franklin Templeton executive vice president Sandy Kaul says the most exciting aspect of agentic AI trading is machine-to-machine micropayments, where AI agents will pay fractions of a cent for API calls or computing power at millions of times per second on blockchain rails. Kaul, speaking on The Daily Wolf with Scott Melker, noted that while consumer-facing uses like booking flights will exist, the truly lucrative part will be automated, high-volume machine-to-machine transactions. She predicted that the entire system will become so seamless that users won't notice it, but the evidence will be trillions of transactions moving onto blockchains.

Sandy Kaul, head of digital assets and innovation at Franklin Templeton, has expressed the view that AI agents will become the next killer use case for blockchain and crypto assets. She argues that as the AI agent economy expands, demand will grow for blockchain protocols that handle machine-to-machine micropayments. Traditional payment networks like Visa require one to three business days for settlement and are structurally unsuited to an agent economy that generates vast numbers of micropayments, whereas high-speed chains such as Aptos, Solana, and BNB Chain can process transactions in seconds and simultaneously handle recording and settlement, making them a good fit. Citing forecasts referenced in the report, Kaul said agent-based commerce could reach a scale of three to five trillion dollars by 2030, and that investors will need to buy the crypto assets and altcoins issued by decentralized networks in order to capture their value.

Prudential Financial, T. Rowe Price, Franklin Resources, NatWest Group, and British American Tobacco are highlighted as solid dividend stocks for July, with yields ranging from 3.9% to 5.4%. Prudential Financial raised its quarterly dividend to $1.40 for 2026, marking its 18th consecutive year of increases, and trades at a trailing PE of 12. T. Rowe Price lifted its quarterly payout to $1.30 for 2026, with Q1 2026 adjusted EPS of $2.52 beating consensus. Franklin Resources posted fiscal Q2 EPS of $0.71, well above the $0.55 consensus, and swung to long-term net inflows of $16.9 billion. NatWest Group offers a trailing yield of 4.9% and raised 2026 income guidance to the top end of £17.2 to £17.6 billion. British American Tobacco increased its 2026 quarterly rate to $0.834851 and guides to 5% to 8% adjusted diluted EPS growth in 2026.

Custody bank stocks delivered a strong first quarter, with the 16 companies tracked reporting aggregate revenues that beat analysts' consensus estimates by 2.5%. Voya Financial stood out with revenues of $1.93 billion, up 2.3% year on year and exceeding expectations by 15.4%, the largest beat in the group. Franklin Resources reported revenues of $2.29 billion, an 8.7% increase that topped estimates by 11.8%, while Hamilton Lane posted the slowest revenue growth with a 2.2% decline to $193.6 million, missing forecasts by 3.4%. T. Rowe Price saw revenues rise 4.8% to $1.86 billion but missed estimates by 1%, and Ameriprise Financial grew revenues 10.8% to $4.77 billion, beating by 2.1%. Share prices across the group have been resilient, rising 8.7% on average since the latest earnings results.

Franklin Resources, operating as Franklin Templeton, reported preliminary assets under management of $1.79 trillion as of June 30, 2026, up from $1.78 trillion at the end of May. The monthly increase reflected long-term net inflows of $9 billion, partially offset by the net impact of market movements, distributions, and other factors. For the quarter ended June 30, preliminary AUM benefited from positive markets and long-term net inflows of $18 billion, which included $1 billion of long-term net outflows at Western Asset Management. Excluding Western Asset Management, long-term net inflows were $19 billion, and preliminary average AUM for the quarter stood at $1.75 trillion. By asset class, equity AUM reached $756.8 billion, fixed income $441.3 billion, alternatives $290.7 billion, multi-asset $218.5 billion, and cash management $80.6 billion.

Tradeweb Markets facilitated a real-time onchain trade of tokenized U.S. Treasuries using the Canton Network and USDCx. The transaction involved asset transfers between Franklin Templeton and Virtu Financial, demonstrating synchronized settlement across tokenized cash and securities. This marks a key step in applying blockchain-based infrastructure to traditional fixed income markets and digital asset trading workflows.

Robinhood Markets, Franklin Resources, and State Street emerged as the top-performing finance stocks in the S&P 500 during the second quarter of 2026, as the broader finance sector surged 10.9% amid a retail trading revival and improving market conditions. Robinhood benefited from a sharp rebound in retail trading activity and the expansion of its product ecosystem, including AI-powered trading and an agentic credit card, with analysts revising its 2026 and 2027 earnings estimates upward to $1.81 and $2.45 per share, respectively. Franklin Resources saw its preliminary assets under management rise 1.9% sequentially to $1.78 trillion as of May 31, 2026, supported by $4 billion of long-term net inflows and the launch of a dedicated active digital asset management division, driving fiscal 2026 and 2027 earnings estimates to $2.79 and $3.06 per share. State Street reported record assets under custody and administration of $54.5 trillion and assets under management of $5.6 trillion in the first quarter, leading the company to raise its full-year fee revenue growth guidance to 7-9% and net interest income growth to 8-10%, with 2026 and 2027 earnings estimates climbing to $12.53 and $14.03 per share.

The financial sector gained 8.66% in the second quarter of 2026, as measured by the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF, but underperformed the broader S&P 500's 13.16% return. Robinhood Markets was the biggest winner in the financial sector during Q2, soaring 53.90%, while CME Group was the biggest detractor, declining 25.79%. Other top gainers included Franklin Resources, up 45.22%, and Interactive Brokers, up 36.66%, while Intercontinental Exchange fell 21.56% and Cboe Global Markets lost 14.04%. Analyst Ian Bezek noted that prediction markets drove many of the quarter's biggest movers, with Robinhood and Interactive Brokers benefiting from event contracts, while traditional exchanges faced concerns about losing market share.

Cap has been onboarded as a BENJI client and will now support Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund as a deposit asset. The approval marks the first step toward enabling BENJI holders to access Cap's infrastructure. BENJI, launched in 2021, is the longest-running tokenized money market fund in its category, and the broader BENJI suite holds over $2.5 billion in onchain assets under management as of June 24, 2026. Cap cleared Franklin Templeton Digital Assets' full compliance review to become a BENJI wallet holder, signaling institutional confidence in its platform. Franklin Templeton Digital Assets, which led Cap's seed round in 2025, intends to continue collaborating with Cap to bridge traditional finance and decentralized finance.

Franklin Resources is paying a dividend of $0.33 per share, yielding 3.89%, which compares to the Financial - Investment Management industry average of 2.57% and the S&P 500's 1.44%. The company's current annualized dividend of $1.32 is up 3.1% from last year, and it has increased its dividend five times over the past five years for an average annual increase of 3.38%. The payout ratio stands at 51% of trailing 12-month earnings per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 earnings is $2.77 per share, representing year-over-year growth of 24.77%, and the stock carries a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Franklin Resources has returned 42% so far this year, significantly outperforming the Finance group's average gain of about 4%. The stock holds a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and its full-year earnings consensus estimate has risen 7% over the past quarter. Within the Financial - Investment Management industry, which has lost an average of 9.3% year-to-date, Franklin Resources stands out as a top performer. Another finance stock, Popular, has returned 30.7% this year and carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), with its current-year EPS estimate up 5.8% over three months.

Franklin Templeton, which manages $1.78 trillion in assets, has closed its acquisition of 250 Digital, according to a Monday announcement, launching a new crypto division. The move marks a significant expansion into digital assets by the traditional finance giant. Further details on the terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.

Franklin Templeton has filed to launch the first bitcoin dividend ETFs, which will automatically use stock dividends to purchase bitcoin. The so-called DRIP ETFs will hold 95% equities and 5% bitcoin, with a targeted launch in September. Separately, Morgan Stanley has amended filings for upcoming Ethereum and Solana ETFs, each with a fee of just 14 basis points, undercutting existing products. The moves signal intensifying competition among Wall Street giants to offer crypto-linked investment products to retail investors.

Strategy added only 520 Bitcoin for $34.9 million last week while boosting cash reserves to $1.4 billion, signaling a pause in its aggressive accumulation as its preferred shares trade below par. The company has temporarily halted its at-the-market equity program and is not issuing more shares while STRC remains under $100, effectively shutting off its primary Bitcoin funding mechanism. In a landmark move bridging traditional and digital markets, Intercontinental Exchange—parent of the New York Stock Exchange—formed a 50/50 joint venture with crypto exchange OKX to build infrastructure for tokenized and digitally native financial products, giving OKX’s 120 million users access to NYSE-listed tokenized assets. Separately, Franklin Templeton filed for the first Bitcoin dividend ETFs that will automatically use stock dividends to purchase Bitcoin, while Morgan Stanley amended filings for Ethereum and Solana ETFs with industry-low 14-basis-point fees. The Bank of England softened its stablecoin rules by proposing a £40 billion issuer cap instead of individual holding limits, reversing its earlier restrictive stance on sterling-backed stablecoins.

Morningstar Wealth is collaborating with Apollo, Franklin Templeton, and JPMorgan to launch research-driven public and private market model portfolios. The initiative aims to give financial advisors access to diversified portfolios that include private market exposure through interval funds, combining Morningstar's independent research with open-architecture allocations from multiple asset managers. The move comes as Morningstar's stock has been under pressure, recently closing at $153.68 and down 27.0% year to date, with a decline of 48.8% over the past year and 35.5% over five years. The collaboration highlights how Morningstar is leaning on its research capabilities to stay relevant for advisors rethinking portfolio construction, and its success may depend on how quickly advisors adopt these models across different client segments, particularly where demand for alternative assets is growing.

Custody bank stocks delivered a strong first quarter, with the 16 companies tracked by StockStory beating analysts' consensus revenue estimates by 2.5% on average. Cohen & Steers reported revenues of $145.6 million, up 8.3% year on year and exceeding expectations by 1.6%, though it was a mixed quarter overall. Franklin Resources stood out as the best performer, with revenues of $2.29 billion, an 8.7% increase that surpassed estimates by 11.8%, while Hamilton Lane was the slowest, with revenues of $193.6 million, down 2.2% and missing estimates by 3.4%. BNY posted revenues of $5.41 billion, up 13.8% and beating estimates by 4.3%, and Affiliated Managers Group reported revenues of $544.9 million, up 9.7% but missing estimates by 1.8%. Share prices of the group have been resilient, rising 8% on average since the latest earnings results.

Benefit Street Partners has closed BSP CLO 50, a $500 million new-issue collateralized loan obligation, marking a milestone for its U.S. CLO platform. The transaction, arranged with Scotiabank, closed on May 26, 2026, and brings the platform's total CLO capital raised to approximately $25.5 billion since its first issuance in 2012. The platform has attracted support from more than 300 distinct investors, and BSP is currently ranked as the ninth largest U.S. CLO manager and the eighth largest globally, according to Intex. Co-Heads Dan Ryan and Vince Pompliano highlighted the firm's disciplined credit selection and consistent execution as key drivers of investor confidence. BSP, a subsidiary of Franklin Templeton with $93 billion in assets under management, also continues to expand its European CLO capabilities and recently closed a third captive fund raising $500 million in 2025.

Franklin Resources shares touched a new 52-week high of $33.29 before closing slightly lower at $33.18. The stock has rallied 38.9% over the past six months, outperforming the industry's 9.7% decline and peers Invesco and T. Rowe Price, which gained 10.3% and 5.5% respectively. The company's growth is supported by strategic acquisitions and partnerships, including the April 2026 agreement to acquire crypto investment firm 250 Digital and a partnership with Binance for an institutional collateral program, as well as the October 2025 acquisition of Apera Asset Management that expanded alternative credit assets under management to more than $90 billion and the overall alternatives platform to approximately $270 billion. Franklin's strong liquidity position of $6.6 billion as of March 31, 2026, has enabled shareholder-friendly actions such as a 3.1% dividend increase to 33 cents per share and a share repurchase authorization of 40 million shares. However, concerns remain over concentration risk from investment management fees, which accounted for 79.3% of total revenues, and rising expenses that could pressure profitability. Analysts have revised fiscal 2026 and 2027 earnings estimates upward, reflecting year-over-year growth of 23.4% and 8.4%, and the stock trades at a forward price-to-earnings multiple of 11.4, below the industry average of 13.8.

Franklin Templeton launched its Preferred Partner Program, an expansion of its Canvas platform that lets third-party asset managers offer tax-managed versions of their strategies. MFS Investment Management, Federated Hermes, and T. Rowe Price are the first to join, starting with separately managed accounts that pair each manager's investment expertise with Canvas's tax overlay capabilities. The platform provides tax-loss harvesting, tax-aware transitions, annual tax budgets, concentrated stock diversification, client-specific restrictions, and after-tax reporting at the individual account level. Franklin Templeton says the program broadens advisor choice and makes tax-aware customization more accessible across a wider range of strategies.