Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) Stock Rating Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Franklin Resources from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on Franklin Resources in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Evercore reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.10.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of BEN opened at $33.03 on Friday. Franklin Resources has a 1-year low of $21.10 and a 1-year high of $36.28. The stock has a market cap of $16.78 billion, a PE ratio of 22.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $33.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.91.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.06. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 8.72%.The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.80%.

Institutional Trading of Franklin Resources

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the second quarter valued at approximately $961,845,000. Azora Capital LP purchased a new position in Franklin Resources in the 2nd quarter valued at $229,850,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Franklin Resources in the 2nd quarter valued at $152,692,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Franklin Resources during the 4th quarter worth $98,168,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 188.2% in the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 4,131,559 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $98,703,000 after acquiring an additional 2,697,743 shares during the period. 47.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Franklin Resources Company Profile

Franklin Resources, Inc, operating under the Franklin Templeton name, is a global investment management organization. The company provides investment solutions for individual investors, financial professionals, institutions and retirement plans through a broad range of strategies and investment vehicles.

Its offerings include mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, separately managed accounts, institutional mandates and alternative investments. Franklin Templeton manages strategies across equities, fixed income, multi-asset portfolios, alternatives and other specialized areas, while also providing investment research, portfolio management and wealth-management services.

Founded in 1947 by Rupert H.