SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Buys New Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 12,236 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 263.1% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 925,590 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 32.1% during 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 buying an additional 709,736 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.9% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 76.7% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,290,200 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $25,998,000 after purchasing an additional 560,000 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.50 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.86.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of BEN opened at $20.14 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $10.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.98, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $20.18 and a 200-day moving average of $20.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.83 and a 52 week high of $28.61.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 posted $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.36%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is currently 196.92%.

Franklin Resources 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.