Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $31.00 target price on the closed-end fund’s stock, up from their previous target price of $21.00.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.56.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

BEN opened at $31.03 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.89. The firm has a market cap of $16.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.68, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.56. Franklin Resources has a 1 year low of $20.86 and a 1 year high of $31.44.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 8.12% and a return on equity of 10.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Franklin Resources will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Franklin Resources

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BEN. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in Franklin Resources by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC now owns 43,921 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,037,000 after buying an additional 2,603 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 18,556 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $438,000 after buying an additional 1,793 shares during the last quarter. SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the 1st quarter valued at about $14,019,000. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 0.8% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 567,600 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $13,407,000 after acquiring an additional 4,600 shares during the period. Finally, Forty three Eighteen Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Franklin Resources during the first quarter worth about $1,580,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

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.