Headlands Technologies LLC Makes New $34,000 Investment in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,661 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Franklin Resources by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 910,234 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $18,469,000 after purchasing an additional 12,940 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 14,175 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 1,893 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 240.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 100,975 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,049,000 after acquiring an additional 71,308 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 253,009 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $5,134,000 after acquiring an additional 34,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,026,650 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $41,121,000 after acquiring an additional 391,159 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $22.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.88.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

BEN opened at $16.65 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.36. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $19.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.44. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.36 and a 1 year high of $27.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 4.32%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.69%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is currently 196.92%.

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.