Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 15,700 Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 15,700 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $371,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 277.0% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 1,150 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the period. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Franklin Resources in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new position in Franklin Resources during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Franklin Resources during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 14th. Weiss Ratings raised Franklin Resources from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $30.50 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.67.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

BEN stock opened at $33.50 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $32.00 and a 200-day moving average of $27.84. The company has a market cap of $17.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.57, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.54. 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 $34.92.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.16. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 8.12%.The business had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 29th will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 29th. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is presently 100.76%.

Franklin Resources Company 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.