Avanza Fonder AB Purchases New Shares in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 17,000 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $345,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,155,516 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $432,730,000 after buying an additional 599,045 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,334,601 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $147,312,000 after acquiring an additional 422,688 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,095,390 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $158,582,000 after acquiring an additional 676,760 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,183,950 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $71,171,000 after purchasing an additional 54,063 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 44.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,998,574 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $60,421,000 after purchasing an additional 925,590 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $22.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Franklin Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.18.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of BEN opened at $19.56 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $10.25 billion, a PE ratio of 22.74, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.41. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.83 and a 12-month high of $28.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.15.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.01). Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 9.62%. The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This is a positive change from Franklin Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is 148.84%.

About Franklin Resources

Franklin Resources, Inc is a publicly owned asset management holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides its services to individuals, institutions, pension plans, trusts, and partnerships. It launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and multi-asset mutual funds through its subsidiaries.