228,480 Shares in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN Purchased by Aquatic Capital Management LLC

Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 228,480 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $5,285,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,065,908 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $232,833,000 after purchasing an additional 553,184 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 2.5% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,236,553 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $77,192,000 after acquiring an additional 80,146 shares during the last quarter. Azora Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the 2nd quarter valued at about $76,051,000. Kopernik Global Investors LLC grew its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. Kopernik Global Investors LLC now owns 2,843,849 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $67,826,000 after acquiring an additional 407,867 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources during the 2nd quarter worth about $60,618,000. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BEN. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Evercore raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $25.89.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

NYSE:BEN opened at $24.38 on Tuesday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.25 and a 52 week high of $28.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a current ratio of 1.86. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.40. The firm has a market cap of $12.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.46.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The closed-end fund reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.15. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.