Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Buys Shares of 27,464 Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 27,464 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $635,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BEN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 26.2% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 148,049 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,850,000 after acquiring an additional 30,763 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 169.3% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,909 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 4,972 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 41.1% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,189 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 7,634 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 43,876 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 1,749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 80.2% during the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,777 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares during the period. 47.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on BEN. Evercore boosted their price objective on Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $25.89.

Franklin Resources Stock Down 2.5%

Franklin Resources stock opened at $26.26 on Friday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.25 and a 1-year high of $28.32. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.43. The company has a market capitalization of $13.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The closed-end fund reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.23 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 9.58%. Franklin Resources’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 122.22%.

Franklin Resources Company Profile

Franklin Resources, Inc, doing business as Franklin Templeton, is a global investment management organization that offers a wide range of asset management solutions to institutional and individual investors. The firm’s core focus is on delivering active portfolio management across equities, fixed income, multi-asset strategies and alternative investments. Franklin Templeton’s product lineup includes mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds, separately managed accounts and sub-advisory services designed to meet varying risk-return objectives and income needs.

Founded in 1947 by Rupert H.