Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Grows Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 5.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,202 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,626 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $2,056,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,985,065 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $230,713,000 after buying an additional 263,619 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 20.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,223,369 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $139,040,000 after purchasing an additional 1,220,419 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 99.1% in the first quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. now owns 5,237,650 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $100,825,000 after purchasing an additional 2,607,460 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 0.7% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,778,910 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $72,009,000 after buying an additional 26,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 9.9% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,392,081 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $65,298,000 after buying an additional 305,736 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Franklin Resources stock opened at $23.58 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.55. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.25 and a 1-year high of $26.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.50. The company’s 50-day moving average is $24.60 and its 200 day moving average is $22.52.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The closed-end fund reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is 250.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BEN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Franklin Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, June 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $24.25.

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.