Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN Shares Purchased by Foster & Motley Inc.

Foster & Motley Inc. boosted its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 302.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,975 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after buying an additional 27,787 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $873,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 26.2% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 148,049 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,850,000 after acquiring an additional 30,763 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 169.3% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,909 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 4,972 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 41.1% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,189 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $504,000 after acquiring an additional 7,634 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the second quarter worth approximately $169,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 52.2% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 509,171 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $12,144,000 after purchasing an additional 174,579 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 14th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.67.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:BEN opened at $33.24 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $30.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.22. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.10 and a 1-year high of $34.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.38, a PEG ratio of 0.86 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 8.12% and a return on equity of 10.58%. The business’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. Analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 29th will be paid 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 4.0%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.