Farther Finance Advisors LLC Acquires 1,532 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 12.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 14,219 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,532 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $339,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 49.9% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the 1st quarter worth about $46,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 39.4% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 732 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 78.3% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 3,139 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in Franklin Resources by 79.8% during the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 3,802 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 1,687 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BEN. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Franklin Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $23.58.

Franklin Resources Stock Up 0.2%

BEN opened at $23.32 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.39. The company has a market capitalization of $12.11 billion, a PE ratio of 45.73, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.51. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.25 and a 1-year high of $26.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The closed-end fund reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 3.73%.The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Franklin Resources’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 250.98%.

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.