Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 26,027 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after buying an additional 1,940 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $775,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 6.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,563,774 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $161,338,000 after buying an additional 415,512 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 7.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,053,751 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $75,061,000 after buying an additional 202,288 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 0.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,840,863 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $45,248,000 after buying an additional 14,896 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 138.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,750,779 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $43,034,000 after buying an additional 1,015,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,188,199 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $35,396,000 after buying an additional 414,826 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BEN. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.50.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BEN opened at $25.07 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.88 and a 52 week high of $30.32.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The closed-end fund reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 11.15%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.95%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.26%.

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.