CIBC Asset Management Inc Has $1.79 Million Stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 63.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 74,821 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,060 shares during the quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $1,787,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,065,908 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $232,833,000 after acquiring an additional 553,184 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,069,495 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $192,774,000 after acquiring an additional 272,335 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,083,168 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $169,217,000 after purchasing an additional 243,836 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 49.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,118,686 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $95,265,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the fourth quarter worth $98,168,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays set a $31.00 target price on Franklin Resources and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Franklin Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.00.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of BEN stock opened at $31.39 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $28.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.10 and a 12 month high of $32.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.96, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.55.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 8.12% and a return on equity of 10.58%. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 29th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is presently 100.76%.

Franklin Resources 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.