Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN Shares Acquired by Squarepoint Ops LLC

Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 188.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,131,559 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,697,743 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC owned approximately 0.79% of Franklin Resources worth $98,703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BEN. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,882,860 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $259,988,000 after buying an additional 816,952 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,069,495 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $192,774,000 after buying an additional 272,335 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,083,168 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $169,217,000 after buying an additional 243,836 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 49.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,118,686 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $95,265,000 after buying an additional 1,370,132 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the fourth quarter worth $98,168,000. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on BEN shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Evercore reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday, June 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Franklin Resources from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Franklin Resources from $30.50 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Franklin Resources from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.00.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

BEN opened at $32.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $16.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.77, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.55. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.10 and a 1 year high of $32.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $29.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.60.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 8.12%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 29th will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 29th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.76%.

About Franklin Resources

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.