Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases 14,842 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 69.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,300 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,842 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $737,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at $880,000. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,857,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 381,192 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $7,681,000 after acquiring an additional 32,490 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 44.7% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 925,590 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 78.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 62,076 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 27,259 shares during the period. 47.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on BEN shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday. 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 note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.86.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of BEN opened at $20.72 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $20.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $18.83 and a one year high of $28.61.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 4.32%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This is a boost from Franklin Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is 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.