Prana Capital Management LP Acquires 495,747 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Prana Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 135.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 860,762 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 495,747 shares during the period. Prana Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.17% of Franklin Resources worth $19,909,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 5.8% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,065,908 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $232,833,000 after buying an additional 553,184 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 49.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,118,686 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $95,265,000 after acquiring an additional 1,370,132 shares during the last quarter. Azora Capital LP raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 3,242,470 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $74,998,000 after acquiring an additional 53,741 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,236,553 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $77,192,000 after acquiring an additional 80,146 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kopernik Global Investors LLC lifted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. Kopernik Global Investors LLC now owns 2,843,849 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $67,826,000 after purchasing an additional 407,867 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on BEN. Barclays increased their price target on Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Evercore upped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, February 2nd. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $25.89.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BEN opened at $24.63 on Wednesday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.25 and a 12 month high of $28.32. The company has a market cap of $12.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.46. The business’s 50 day moving average is $26.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.40. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The closed-end fund reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.23 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.58% and a net margin of 6.97%.Franklin Resources’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is 122.22%.

Franklin Resources Profile

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.