Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV Purchases New Shares in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 24,162 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $571,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 148,049 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,850,000 after buying an additional 30,763 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 169.3% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,909 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $152,000 after buying an additional 4,972 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 41.1% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,189 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $504,000 after buying an additional 7,634 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new position in Franklin Resources in the second quarter valued at approximately $169,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 52.2% in the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 509,171 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $12,144,000 after acquiring an additional 174,579 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays set a $31.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 14th. Evercore restated an “underperform” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, June 8th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.67.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:BEN opened at $33.26 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $17.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.55. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.10 and a 12 month high of $34.42. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 29th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.