Signal Advisors Wealth LLC Acquires Shares of 11,343 Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Key Points

• Signal Advisors Wealth LLC acquired 11,343 shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. for approximately $271,000 in the second quarter, adding to a growing interest from institutional investors.
• Franklin Resources recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share, representing a 5.3% yield and a significant payout ratio of 250.98%.
• The company's stock has a market cap of $12.66 billion and average price targets from analysts suggest mixed sentiments regarding its future performance.

Signal Advisors Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 11,343 shares of the closed-end fund's stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 49.9% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the 1st quarter valued at about $46,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 39.4% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 78.3% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 3,139 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 1,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 79.8% in the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 3,802 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,687 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company's stock.

Franklin Resources Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE BEN traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $24.07. 700,848 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,391,856. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 1.55. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.25 and a 52 week high of $26.08. The company has a market cap of $12.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.19, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $24.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.25.

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

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. Franklin Resources's payout ratio is currently 250.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Zacks Research cut Franklin Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $23.58.

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.