Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) Stock Price

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) had its price objective raised by research analysts at Barclays from $17.00 to $19.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “underweight” rating on the closed-end fund’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective indicates a potential downside of 5.49% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on BEN. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.46.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of BEN stock opened at $20.10 on Monday. Franklin Resources has a twelve month low of $16.25 and a twelve month high of $24.86. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.39.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The closed-end fund reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.44 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 4.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Franklin Resources will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Franklin Resources

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 43,687 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $886,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 44.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 8,789 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $177,000 after buying an additional 510 shares during the period. Hardy Reed LLC increased its position in Franklin Resources by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 16,721 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,677 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 609 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Company Profile

Franklin Resources, Inc is a publicly owned asset management holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides its services to individuals, institutions, pension plans, trusts, and partnerships. It launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and multi-asset mutual funds through its subsidiaries.