BEN Witnesses Steady Rise in AUM: What's Driving the Rally?

Franklin Resources, Inc. BEN reported preliminary assets under management (AUM) for July 2025. AUM of $1.62 trillion increased marginally from the previous month. The rise reflected the positive impact of markets and flat preliminary long-term net inflows (inclusive of $3 billion of long-term net outflows at Western Asset Management).

The company’s Equity assets of $662.8 billion increased 1% from the previous month. Likewise, the Multi-asset AUM was $184.7 billion, up almost 1% from June 2025. The cash management balance was $72 billion, up marginally. However, Fixed income AUM of $440 billion and Alternative AUM of $257.5 billion declined marginally from the previous month.

BEN has been recording a consistent rise in the AUM balance. Over the last five fiscal years (ending fiscal 2024), the company’s AUM saw a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.1%, with the uptrend continuing in the first nine months of fiscal 2025. Strategic acquisitions have been supporting AUM growth.

In July 2024, Franklin teamed up with Japan's SBI Holdings to focus on ETFs and emerging asset classes, including digital assets and cryptocurrencies, to help new generations of investors achieve their financial goals. In January 2024, BEN completed the acquisition of Putnam Investments from Great-West Lifeco, a transaction that is likely to accelerate Franklin’s growth in the retirement space by increasing its defined contribution AUM to more than $100 billion. Such buyouts, along with the other past transactions, have led to enhanced presence in the separately managed account space and bolstered BEN’s investment capabilities in private debt, real estate, hedge funds and private equity.

Franklin’s efforts to diversify its business into asset classes that are seeing growing client demand are expected to propel AUM growth. In fact, a regionally-focused distribution model has improved BEN’s non-U.S. business, with favorable net flows.

BEN’s Competitors Witnessing AUM Growth

Franklin’s peers like Invesco IVZ and T.Rowe Price TROW have also been witnessing steady AUM growth.

In the last five years ended 2024, Invesco's AUM witnessed a CAGR of 8.5%, with the uptrend continuing in the first six months of 2025. The 2019 acquisition of OppenheimerFunds resulted in a substantial rise in the company’s AUM, making it one of the leading global asset managers.

Invesco has also been capitalizing on the growing demand for passive products, which constituted 45.7% of the total AUM as of June 30, 2025. Notably, in April 2025, IVZ collaborated with MassMutual’s subsidiary, Barings, to boost private credit offerings.

T. Rowe Price’s diversified AUM across various asset classes, client bases and geographies offers support. The company’s AUM balance witnessed a CAGR of 2.3% over the past four years (2020-2024), with the uptrend continuing in the first half of this year. A strong brand, consistent investment track record, and decent business volumes are expected to keep supporting T. Rowe Price’s AUM growth in the upcoming period.

BEN’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimate Analysis

Shares of Franklin have rallied 24.4% so far in 2025 against the industry’s marginal decline.

From a valuation standpoint, BEN trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 10.91, well below the industry average.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Franklin’s fiscal 2025 earnings indicates a year-over-year decline of 13%, whereas the same for fiscal 2026 suggests growth of 14.7%. Over the past 30 days, earnings estimates for both years have been revised upward.

Franklin currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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