Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 446 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,622 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after buying an additional 446 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. Barclays PLC increased its position in Franklin Resources by 138.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,750,779 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $43,034,000 after buying an additional 1,015,225 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the 3rd quarter worth $14,684,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,563,774 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $161,338,000 after purchasing an additional 415,512 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 414,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 383.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 502,840 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $12,360,000 after purchasing an additional 398,745 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Franklin Resources from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $30.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Franklin Resources from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Franklin Resources has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.50.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

NYSE BEN opened at $24.99 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The business’s fifty day moving average is $26.87 and its 200 day moving average is $26.37. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.88 and a fifty-two week high of $30.32.

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

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.96%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.26%.

Franklin Resources Company 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.