8,425 Shares in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN Purchased by MQS Management LLC

MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 8,425 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 39.4% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 732 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 78.3% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 3,139 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 1,378 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 79.8% in the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 3,802 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,687 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 245.1% in the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,379 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400 shares during the period. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BEN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $23.83.

Franklin Resources Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:BEN opened at $23.32 on Wednesday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.25 and a fifty-two week high of $26.08. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $12.11 billion, a PE ratio of 45.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.50. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.98.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 3.73%.Franklin Resources’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company 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 was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.5%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is presently 250.98%.

Franklin Resources Profile

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.