21,048 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN Bought by Crumly & Associates Inc.

Crumly & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 21,048 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $676,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $961,845,000. Azora Capital LP purchased a new position in Franklin Resources during the second quarter worth about $229,850,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $152,692,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 188.2% during the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 4,131,559 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $98,703,000 after purchasing an additional 2,697,743 shares during the period. Finally, Kopernik Global Investors LLC boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 4.6% during the first quarter. Kopernik Global Investors LLC now owns 3,522,587 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $83,204,000 after buying an additional 153,422 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of Franklin Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.89.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

BEN stock traded down $0.03 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $32.41. The company had a trading volume of 1,585,992 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,777,143. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.10 and a 1-year high of $36.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $33.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market cap of $16.47 billion, a PE ratio of 22.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.54.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 11.55%. Franklin Resources’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is presently 89.80%.

Franklin Resources Company Profile

Franklin Resources, Inc, operating under the Franklin Templeton brand, is a global investment management organization. The company provides investment solutions for individual investors, financial professionals, institutions and retirement-plan participants through a range of actively managed and specialized strategies.

Its products and services include mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, separately managed accounts, institutional mandates and alternative investment strategies. Franklin Templeton offers capabilities spanning equities, fixed income, multi-asset investing, private markets and other specialized areas, with investment teams and brands serving different market segments and regions.

Founded in 1947 by Rupert H.