Elevated Capital Advisors LLC Sells 30,825 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Elevated Capital Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 87.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,612 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 30,825 shares during the quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $109,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BEN. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the 4th quarter worth approximately $98,168,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 188.2% during the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 4,131,559 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $98,703,000 after acquiring an additional 2,697,743 shares during the period. Azora Capital LP boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 78.8% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Franklin Resources in the second quarter worth $51,384,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 125.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,737,050 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $89,278,000 after purchasing an additional 2,078,369 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Franklin Resources from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Evercore reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Friday. Barclays set a $31.00 price target on Franklin Resources and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Franklin Resources from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.62.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of BEN opened at $33.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.54. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.10 and a 52 week high of $34.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $32.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.87.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.16. The company 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 for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 29th were paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 29th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. 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.