Foundations Investment Advisors LLC Grows Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 163.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 46,528 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after buying an additional 28,870 shares during the quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $1,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,069,495 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $192,774,000 after buying an additional 272,335 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 49.0% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 4,256 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $284,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 50.2% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 48,076 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after buying an additional 16,065 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 28.1% during the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 25,602 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $624,000 after buying an additional 5,620 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BEN. Weiss Ratings lowered Franklin Resources from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Franklin Resources from $30.50 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays set a $31.00 price objective on Franklin Resources and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.56.

Franklin Resources Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE BEN opened at $31.07 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $27.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.86. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $21.06 and a one year high of $32.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.87. The company has a market cap of $16.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.55.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.16. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 8.12%.The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 29th will be paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 29th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.76%.

Franklin Resources Company 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.