JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 554,842 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 35.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,101,000 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 554,842 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $48,596,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 12,287 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,150 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 7.7% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 9,354 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $216,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 8.3% in the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 9,351 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 6.2% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 13,303 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 774 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore increased their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $25.89.

Franklin Resources Stock Up 0.6%

BEN opened at $27.42 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $25.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.46. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.25 and a fifty-two week high of $28.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a current ratio of 1.86.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced 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 business had revenue of $1.75 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 122.22%.

Franklin Resources Company Profile

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.