Intech Investment Management LLC Purchases Shares of 34,609 Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 34,609 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $801,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital A Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 3,869.2% in the second quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,032 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 1,006 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Total Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 129.1% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Consultiva Wealth Management CORP. lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 177.1% during the 2nd quarter. Consultiva Wealth Management CORP. now owns 1,283 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BEN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Finally, Evercore increased their price target on Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $25.89.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

BEN opened at $25.80 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $26.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.44. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.25 and a fifty-two week high of $28.32. The firm has a market cap of $13.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.46.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released 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 return on equity of 9.58% and a net margin of 6.97%.The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 122.22%.

About Franklin Resources

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.