Ethic Inc. Increases Stock Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Ethic Inc. increased its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 25.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 84,362 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,950 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $2,010,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 7.8% in the second quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 27,033 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 1,959 shares during the period. Unison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 1.8% in the second quarter. Unison Advisors LLC now owns 111,625 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,698,000 after purchasing an additional 2,012 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.5% in the second quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 57,595 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the second quarter valued at $799,000. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 163,771 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $3,906,000 after acquiring an additional 1,199 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on BEN. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $23.83.

Franklin Resources Stock Up 0.7%

BEN stock opened at $22.84 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.25 and a fifty-two week high of $26.08. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.88. The stock has a market cap of $11.86 billion, a PE ratio of 44.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.50.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The closed-end fund reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 250.98%.

About Franklin Resources

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.