Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $30.6667.

BEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 14th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Franklin Resources

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 816,952 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 768,707 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 worth $192,774,000 after purchasing an additional 272,335 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 243,836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Azora Capital LP increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,554,105 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Franklin Resources stock opened at $33.25 on Monday. Franklin Resources has a 52 week low of $21.10 and a 52 week high of $34.42. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $30.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market cap of $17.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.55.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.16. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 8.12% and a return on equity of 10.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Franklin Resources will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 29th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. 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.