Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Buys Shares of 9,543 Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,543 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BEN. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 49.9% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 39.4% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 732 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 78.3% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 3,139 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 1,378 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 79.8% during the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 3,802 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 1,687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 245.1% during the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,379 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of BEN stock opened at $22.64 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $11.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.40, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $24.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.79. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.25 and a twelve month high of $26.08.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during 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%.The firm’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.7%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is 250.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BEN shares. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Franklin Resources in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Four equities 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $23.83.

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.