Bank of New York Mellon Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,710,449 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,559 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $32,926,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BEN. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 147.1% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,238 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 737 shares during the period. GeoWealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 350.4% in the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 1,261 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 981 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BEN. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.83.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BEN opened at $24.12 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $22.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.62. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.25 and a 52-week high of $25.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.45.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The closed-end fund reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.44 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 4.65% and a return on equity of 9.13%. Franklin Resources’s revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 27th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 188.24%.

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.