Captrust Financial Advisors Makes New $436,000 Investment in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 21,499 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $436,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BEN. GeoWealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Franklin Resources by 350.4% in the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 1,261 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 981 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 44.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Franklin Resources during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 561.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,957 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,677 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BEN. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Cowen raised Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.25.

Franklin Resources Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of BEN opened at $22.22 on Tuesday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.25 and a fifty-two week high of $24.37. The company has a market capitalization of $11.68 billion, a PE ratio of 34.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $19.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The closed-end fund reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 4.32%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

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.