Head-To-Head Survey: Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) and Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN)

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) and Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Dividends

Franklin Resources pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund pays an annual dividend of $3.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.9%. Franklin Resources pays out 89.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund pays out 242.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Franklin Resources has increased its dividend for 45 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Franklin Resources and Blackstone Secured Lending Fund, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Franklin Resources	1	6	4	0	2.27
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	1	5	4	0	2.30

Franklin Resources presently has a consensus price target of $35.89, suggesting a potential upside of 15.80%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a consensus price target of $24.89, suggesting a potential upside of 4.33%. Given Franklin Resources’ higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Franklin Resources is more favorable than Blackstone Secured Lending Fund.

Volatility & Risk

Franklin Resources has a beta of 1.54, meaning that its stock price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Franklin Resources and Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Franklin Resources	8.72%	11.55%	4.46%
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	21.51%	11.86%	5.10%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Franklin Resources and Blackstone Secured Lending Fund”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Franklin Resources	$8.77 billion	1.80	$524.90 million	$1.47	21.08
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	$1.42 billion	3.92	$563.46 million	$1.27	18.78

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Franklin Resources. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Franklin Resources, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

47.6% of Franklin Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.5% of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.4% of Franklin Resources shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

About Franklin Resources

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. The firm invests in the public equity, fixed income, and alternative markets. Franklin Resources, Inc. was founded in 1947 and is based in San Mateo, California with an additional office in Calgary, Canada; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Fort Lauderdale, United States; Hyderabad, India; London, United Kingdom; Rancho Cordova, United states; Shanghai, China; Singapore; Stamford, United States; and Vienna, Austria.

About Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund is business development company and a Delaware statutory trust formed on March 26, 2018, and structured as an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end investment Fund. On October 26, 2018, the fund elected to be regulated as a business development company (BDC) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act). In addition, the Fund elected to be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as a regulated investment company (RIC), as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). The fund also intends to continue to comply with the requirements prescribed by the Code in order to maintain tax treatment as a RIC. The fund's investment objectives are to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, long-term capital appreciation. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective primarily through originated loans, equity and other securities, including syndicated loans, of private U.S. companies, specifically small and middle market companies, typically in the form of first lien senior secured and unitranche loans (including first out/last out loans), and to a lesser extent, second lien, third lien, unsecured and subordinated loans and other debt and equity securities.