abrdn plc Raises Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

abrdn plc increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 68.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 120,968 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,095 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $3,604,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,015,225 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new position in Franklin Resources during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $14,684,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,563,774 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $161,338,000 after purchasing an additional 415,512 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 53.6% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,188,199 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $35,396,000 after acquiring an additional 414,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 383.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 502,840 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $12,360,000 after acquiring an additional 398,745 shares during the period. 47.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BEN opened at $24.99 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.37. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.88 and a 12 month high of $30.32.

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

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.96%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.50.

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.