Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on BEN. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Barclays lowered their price objective on Franklin Resources from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Zacks Research downgraded Franklin Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $23.91.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Franklin Resources stock opened at $23.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.47. Franklin Resources has a 12 month low of $16.25 and a 12 month high of $26.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $22.67 and its 200-day moving average is $23.53.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The closed-end fund reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.10. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.98% and a return on equity of 9.12%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Franklin Resources’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 2.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,985,065 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $230,713,000 after purchasing an additional 263,619 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,065,908 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $232,833,000 after purchasing an additional 553,184 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,677,417 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $206,956,000 after buying an additional 97,708 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 99.1% in the 1st quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. now owns 5,237,650 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $100,825,000 after buying an additional 2,607,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 49.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,118,686 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $95,265,000 after buying an additional 1,370,132 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

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.