43,160 Shares in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN Bought by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 43,160 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $998,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Azora Capital LP acquired a new position in Franklin Resources during the 2nd quarter valued at about $76,051,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources during the second quarter worth approximately $60,618,000. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Franklin Resources in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $51,384,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in Franklin Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,293,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 1,109.0% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 775,490 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $17,937,000 after acquiring an additional 711,347 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Evercore upped their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $25.89.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:BEN opened at $27.48 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $25.38 and a 200-day moving average of $24.26. The firm has a market cap of $14.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.25 and a twelve month high of $28.32.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The closed-end fund reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.23 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 122.22%.

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.