SG Americas Securities LLC Acquires 30,415 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 94.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 62,492 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after buying an additional 30,415 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $1,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,155,516 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $432,730,000 after acquiring an additional 599,045 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 6.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,334,601 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $147,312,000 after purchasing an additional 422,688 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 44.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,998,574 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $60,421,000 after purchasing an additional 925,590 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC increased its position in Franklin Resources by 22.9% in the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 2,213,663 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $44,605,000 after buying an additional 411,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Franklin Resources by 263.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,022,055 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $40,744,000 after buying an additional 1,465,148 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BEN. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.50 to $20.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.18.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

BEN opened at $20.32 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $20.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.62, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.41. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.83 and a 12-month high of $28.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 9.62%. Franklin Resources’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.30%. This is a boost from Franklin Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 148.84%.

Franklin Resources Company 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.