75,031 Shares in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN Bought by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 75,031 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $1,735,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 12,287 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,150 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $397,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 7.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 9,354 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $216,000 after buying an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 11.2% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 6,846 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 8.3% during the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 9,351 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BEN shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Evercore upped their price objective on Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $25.89.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 0.3%

BEN opened at $26.58 on Thursday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.25 and a twelve month high of $28.32. The company has a fifty day moving average of $26.11 and a 200-day moving average of $24.41. The stock has a market cap of $13.84 billion, a PE ratio of 24.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The closed-end fund reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.15. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 122.22%.

About Franklin Resources

Franklin Resources, Inc, doing business as Franklin Templeton, is a global investment management organization that offers a wide range of asset management solutions to institutional and individual investors. The firm’s core focus is on delivering active portfolio management across equities, fixed income, multi-asset strategies and alternative investments. Franklin Templeton’s product lineup includes mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds, separately managed accounts and sub-advisory services designed to meet varying risk-return objectives and income needs.

Founded in 1947 by Rupert H.