Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN Stock Purchased by Yousif Capital Management LLC

Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 343,064 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,621 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $11,518,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Franklin Resources in the second quarter worth $961,845,000. Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the second quarter valued at $229,850,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the second quarter valued at $152,692,000. Kopernik Global Investors LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 4.6% in the first quarter. Kopernik Global Investors LLC now owns 3,522,587 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $83,204,000 after buying an additional 153,422 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 37.3% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,964,424 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $46,400,000 after buying an additional 533,192 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BEN shares. UBS Group initiated coverage on Franklin Resources in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, August 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Zacks Research cut shares of Franklin Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.89.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

BEN stock opened at $31.06 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $33.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.98. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.10 and a fifty-two week high of $36.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.78 billion, a PE ratio of 21.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.54.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 8.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. Analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.91 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is presently 89.80%.

Franklin Resources Profile

Franklin Resources, Inc, operating under the Franklin Templeton name, is a global investment management organization headquartered in San Mateo, California. The company provides investment solutions to individuals, financial professionals, institutions, and other clients worldwide.

Its products and services include mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, separately managed accounts, institutional portfolios, and alternative investment strategies. Through its investment teams and specialist affiliates, Franklin Templeton offers capabilities across equities, fixed income, multi-asset strategies, private markets, real assets, and other areas of asset management.

Franklin Resources was founded in 1947 by Rupert H.