Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC Invests $645,000 in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 27,901 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $645,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BEN. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 55.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 32,101 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $766,000 after purchasing an additional 11,432 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC bought a new position in Franklin Resources during the 2nd quarter valued at about $271,000. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Franklin Resources in the third quarter valued at about $998,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 5.2% during the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 583,016 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $13,905,000 after buying an additional 28,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modern Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 58.1% during the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 245,708 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $4,730,000 after buying an additional 90,277 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 1.2%

BEN opened at $25.44 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $13.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.44. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.87. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.25 and a fifty-two week high of $26.08.

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

Franklin Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.2%. This is a boost from Franklin Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 30th. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is presently 145.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $24.09.

About Franklin Resources

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.