Board of the Pension Protection Fund Has $1.60 Million Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Board of the Pension Protection Fund boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 413.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 66,800 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 53,800 shares during the quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $1,596,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 26.2% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 148,049 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $2,850,000 after buying an additional 30,763 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 169.3% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,909 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 4,972 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 41.1% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,189 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $504,000 after acquiring an additional 7,634 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 76,043 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,814,000 after acquiring an additional 5,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 32.1% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 62,104 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,481,000 after acquiring an additional 15,091 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BEN shares. Barclays raised their price target on Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $25.89.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:BEN opened at $23.88 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $26.21 and its 200-day moving average is $24.39. The company has a market cap of $12.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a current ratio of 1.86. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.25 and a 52-week high of $28.32.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The closed-end fund reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.15. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 122.22%.

Franklin Resources Profile

Franklin Resources, Inc, doing business as Franklin Templeton, is a global investment management organization that offers a wide range of asset management solutions to institutional and individual investors. The firm’s core focus is on delivering active portfolio management across equities, fixed income, multi-asset strategies and alternative investments. Franklin Templeton’s product lineup includes mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds, separately managed accounts and sub-advisory services designed to meet varying risk-return objectives and income needs.

Founded in 1947 by Rupert H.