Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Key Points

• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage of Franklin Resources with a “market perform” rating and a $38 price target, implying 10.86% upside from the reported $34.28 share price.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Franklin Resources has an overall consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33, based on four Buy, six Hold, and two Sell ratings.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $0.72, beating estimates of $0.66, while revenue rose 14.3% year over year to $2.36 billion. Institutional investors and hedge funds own approximately 47.56% of its shares.

Research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods started coverage on shares of Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) in a research report issued on Wednesday. The brokerage set a "market perform" rating and a $38.00 price target on the closed-end fund's stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price target indicates a potential upside of 10.86% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on BEN. Wall Street Zen upgraded Franklin Resources from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, June 14th. Evercore reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research lowered Franklin Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Franklin Resources currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $33.00.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Franklin Resources stock traded down $0.37 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $34.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 79,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,855,343. Franklin Resources has a 12 month low of $21.10 and a 12 month high of $36.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The company has a market capitalization of $17.42 billion, a PE ratio of 23.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.54. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $33.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.32.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources will post 2.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 148,049 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $2,850,000 after purchasing an additional 30,763 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 169.3% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,909 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $152,000 after buying an additional 4,972 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 41.1% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,189 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $504,000 after acquiring an additional 7,634 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the 2nd quarter worth about $169,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 52.2% during the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 509,171 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $12,144,000 after acquiring an additional 174,579 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company's stock.

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.

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