Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Raises Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 29.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 128,143 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after buying an additional 29,472 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $2,600,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Franklin Resources by 263.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,022,055 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $40,744,000 after buying an additional 1,465,148 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 44.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,998,574 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $60,421,000 after acquiring an additional 925,590 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 2,923,399 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $59,316,000 after purchasing an additional 709,736 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,155,516 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $432,730,000 after purchasing an additional 599,045 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 76.7% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,290,200 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $25,998,000 after purchasing an additional 560,000 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Franklin Resources Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Franklin Resources stock opened at $19.87 on Friday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.83 and a 1-year high of $28.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market cap of $10.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.42. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.70.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 4.32%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. Analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 196.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BEN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $22.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Franklin Resources has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.86.

Franklin Resources Company Profile

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.