Rothschild Investment LLC Has $222,000 Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Rothschild Investment LLC raised its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 99.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,935 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,445 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Franklin Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at about $880,000. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,857,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 9.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 381,192 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $7,681,000 after purchasing an additional 32,490 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 78.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 62,076 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after buying an additional 27,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 925,590 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BEN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.86.

Franklin Resources Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of BEN opened at $20.22 on Wednesday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.83 and a 52-week high of $28.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The business’s fifty day moving average is $20.25 and its 200-day moving average is $20.71. The firm has a market cap of $10.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.42.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced 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 net margin of 4.32% and a return on equity of 9.45%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.33%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is presently 196.93%.

Franklin Resources Company 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.