BidaskClub cut shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Monday, July 31st.
Several other brokerages also recently commented on BEN. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Franklin Resources from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Franklin Resources from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, July 24th. Citigroup Inc. reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $43.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Friday, June 9th. Credit Suisse Group reiterated a sell rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Friday, April 7th. Finally, Jefferies Group LLC reiterated a hold rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $43.18.
Franklin Resources (BEN) traded up 0.28% during trading on Monday, reaching $42.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,384,434 shares. Franklin Resources has a 1-year low of $33.02 and a 1-year high of $47.65. The company has a market capitalization of $23.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91 and a beta of 1.73. The company’s 50-day moving average is $45.10 and its 200-day moving average is $42.93.
Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 13.96% and a net margin of 27.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources will post $2.95 EPS for the current year.
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The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 28th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.14%.
In related news, CFO Kenneth A. Lewis sold 17,141 shares of Franklin Resources stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.51, for a total transaction of $762,945.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 124,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,520,174.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 21.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 22.8% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 17,002 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $716,000 after buying an additional 3,161 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 1,550.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 21,119,419 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $889,973,000 after buying an additional 19,839,472 shares in the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 12.0% in the first quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 204,537 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $8,619,000 after buying an additional 21,995 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 996.3% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 716,720 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $30,203,000 after buying an additional 651,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gulf International Bank UK Ltd increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 1.3% in the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 119,694 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $5,043,000 after buying an additional 1,550 shares in the last quarter. 45.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
About Franklin Resources
Franklin Resources, Inc is a holding company. The Company, along with its subsidiaries, operates as Franklin Templeton Investments. It is a global investment management company that provides investment management and related services to retail, institutional and high net-worth clients in jurisdictions around the world.
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