Morningstar (MORN) Competitors

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) and Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, community ranking, profitability and institutional ownership.

Is BEN or MORN a better dividend stock?

Franklin Resources pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. Morningstar pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Franklin Resources pays out 70.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Morningstar pays out 32.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Franklin Resources has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Morningstar has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Is BEN or MORN more profitable?

Franklin Resources has a net margin of 11.09% compared to Franklin Resources' net margin of 10.13%. Franklin Resources' return on equity of 21.79% beat Morningstar's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Franklin Resources	11.09%	10.82%	4.51%
Morningstar	10.13%	21.79%	8.32%

Which has more volatility and risk, BEN or MORN?

Franklin Resources has a beta of 1.44, indicating that its stock price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Morningstar has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer BEN or MORN?

Franklin Resources currently has a consensus price target of $26.00, indicating a potential upside of 13.94%. Morningstar has a consensus price target of $320.00, indicating a potential upside of 11.45%. Given Morningstar's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Franklin Resources is more favorable than Morningstar.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Franklin Resources	3 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.63
Morningstar	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the MarketBeat Community favor BEN or MORN?

Franklin Resources received 164 more outperform votes than Morningstar when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 57.52% of users gave Morningstar an outperform vote while only 40.78% of users gave Franklin Resources an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Franklin Resources	Outperform Votes 447 40.78%	Underperform Votes 649 59.22%
Morningstar	Outperform Votes 283 57.52%	Underperform Votes 209 42.48%

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in BEN or MORN?

47.6% of Franklin Resources shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.0% of Morningstar shares are held by institutional investors. 24.1% of Franklin Resources shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 37.7% of Morningstar shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has better earnings and valuation, BEN or MORN?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Franklin Resources	$7.85B	1.53	$882.80M	$1.75	13.02
Morningstar	$2.04B	6.02	$141.10M	$4.95	58.02

Does the media prefer BEN or MORN?

In the previous week, Morningstar had 8 more articles in the media than Franklin Resources. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Morningstar and 5 mentions for Franklin Resources. Morningstar's average media sentiment score of 1.63 beat Franklin Resources' score of 0.85 indicating that Franklin Resources is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Franklin Resources	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Morningstar	9 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Morningstar beats Franklin Resources on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.