ABC Arbitrage SA Acquires Shares of 131,783 Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 131,783 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $2,674,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 263.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,022,055 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $40,744,000 after acquiring an additional 1,465,148 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 44.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,998,574 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $60,421,000 after acquiring an additional 925,590 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 2,923,399 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $59,316,000 after acquiring an additional 709,736 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,155,516 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $432,730,000 after acquiring an additional 599,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 76.7% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,290,200 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $25,998,000 after acquiring an additional 560,000 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BEN. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays increased their price target on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.86.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of Franklin Resources stock opened at $20.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.81 billion, a PE ratio of 31.65, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.42. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.83 and a 12 month high of $28.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.82.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 4.32%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.22%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is 196.93%.

Franklin Resources Profile

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.