Evercore ISI Raises Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) Price Target to $25.00

Key Points

• Evercore ISI has raised the price target for Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) from $24.00 to $25.00, maintaining an "underperform" rating.
• Other firms like Wells Fargo and TD Cowen have different price targets for Franklin Resources, with estimates ranging from $21.50 up to $27.00.
• Franklin Resources reported earnings of $0.49 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations, but its revenue of $2.06 billion fell short of estimates of $2.38 billion.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) had its price target upped by Evercore ISI from $24.00 to $25.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underperform rating on the closed-end fund's stock.

BEN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Franklin Resources from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $14.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Franklin Resources from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $29.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, June 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $23.42.

Franklin Resources Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Franklin Resources stock traded down $0.07 on Monday, hitting $25.19. The stock had a trading volume of 887,658 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,594,232. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $23.55 and a 200 day moving average of $21.12. Franklin Resources has a twelve month low of $16.25 and a twelve month high of $25.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.38, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.46.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The closed-end fund reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Franklin Resources will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 27th. Franklin Resources's payout ratio is presently 250.98%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 162.2% during the 2nd quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC now owns 26,681 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $636,000 after buying an additional 16,505 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 98.3% during the second quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 67,379 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 33,403 shares in the last quarter. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources during the second quarter worth about $441,000. Strs Ohio grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.7% during the second quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 177,608 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $4,236,000 after purchasing an additional 4,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 80.2% during the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,777 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company's stock.

About Franklin Resources

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.