Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC Acquires Shares of 16,308 Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 16,308 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $389,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aviva PLC raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 8.2% during the second quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 11,910 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 901 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 162.2% in the 2nd quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC now owns 26,681 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 16,505 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 98.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 67,379 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 33,403 shares during the last quarter. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the second quarter worth approximately $441,000. Finally, Strs Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.7% in the second quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 177,608 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $4,236,000 after purchasing an additional 4,645 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BEN. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Franklin Resources in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $26.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $23.91.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BEN opened at $22.16 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.43. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.25 and a twelve month high of $26.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The closed-end fund reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.17 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 3.73%.Franklin Resources’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.8%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 140.66%.

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.