Mather Group LLC. Increases Stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 483,748 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after buying an additional 8,151 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC. owned about 0.09% of Franklin Resources worth $14,411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,563,774 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $161,338,000 after acquiring an additional 415,512 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,053,751 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $75,061,000 after acquiring an additional 202,288 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 0.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,840,863 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $45,248,000 after purchasing an additional 14,896 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 138.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,750,779 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $43,034,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,491,598 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $44,435,000 after purchasing an additional 144,843 shares during the period. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BEN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Franklin Resources from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.50.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of BEN stock traded down $1.07 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $23.92. The stock had a trading volume of 1,963,648 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,577,206. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.60 billion, a PE ratio of 12.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.40. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.88 and a twelve month high of $30.32.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The closed-end fund reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.07. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 11.15% and a net margin of 12.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.18%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.26%.

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.