Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 10,935 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 0.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,795,532 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,935 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $185,875,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 49.9% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. increased its holdings in Franklin Resources by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 20,968 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 706 shares in the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc raised its position in Franklin Resources by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc now owns 25,972 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 8.3% in the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 9,351 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 39.4% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BEN. Zacks Research lowered Franklin Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $23.91.

Franklin Resources Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of NYSE BEN opened at $21.57 on Tuesday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.25 and a fifty-two week high of $26.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.45.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The closed-end fund reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.17 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.9%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 140.66%.

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.