Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) Receives $32.00 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $32.00.

BEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Franklin Resources

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 277.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 1,150 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 845 shares during the period. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Franklin Resources during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new position in Franklin Resources in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Franklin Resources in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of BEN opened at $33.22 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. Franklin Resources has a 1 year low of $21.10 and a 1 year high of $34.92. The stock has a market cap of $17.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.54. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $32.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.79.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 8.12%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Franklin Resources will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 29th were paid a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 29th. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is presently 100.76%.

Franklin Resources Company 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.