Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $29.5556.

BEN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays set a $31.00 price objective on Franklin Resources and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Franklin Resources from $30.50 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Evercore restated an “underperform” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Franklin Resources

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Franklin Resources by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,882,860 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $259,988,000 after acquiring an additional 816,952 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Franklin Resources by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,122,937 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $241,837,000 after acquiring an additional 768,707 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in 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 worth $192,774,000 after acquiring an additional 272,335 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in Franklin Resources by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,083,168 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $169,217,000 after acquiring an additional 243,836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Azora Capital LP grew its position in Franklin Resources by 78.8% during the 4th quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 5,796,575 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $138,480,000 after acquiring an additional 2,554,105 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of Franklin Resources stock opened at $30.37 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.78 billion, a PE ratio of 23.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.55. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $28.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.03. Franklin Resources has a 12 month low of $21.10 and a 12 month high of $32.44.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 8.12%.The company’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Franklin Resources will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 29th will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 29th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.