Bank of New York Mellon Corp Buys 2,078,369 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 125.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,737,050 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,078,369 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $89,278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 277.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 1,150 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 129.1% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 740 shares in the last quarter. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new position in Franklin Resources in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,392 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on BEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Franklin Resources from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. 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 note on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.00.

Franklin Resources Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE:BEN opened at $31.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.24. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $21.10 and a 52-week high of $32.47. 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 $16.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.96, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.55.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 29th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is 100.76%.

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.