SG Americas Securities LLC Increases Stock Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 270,740 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,823 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC owned about 0.05% of Franklin Resources worth $6,468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 102,708 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,376,000 after buying an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in Franklin Resources by 4.5% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 12,287 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.5% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,150 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $397,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 0.5% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 122,857 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,842,000 after acquiring an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 7.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 9,354 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BEN opened at $23.60 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $12.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.29. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.25 and a 52 week high of $28.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

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

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 122.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BEN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore increased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Franklin Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Franklin Resources has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $25.89.

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.