Allstate Corp Takes $644,000 Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Key Points

• Allstate Corp made a new investment of approximately $644,000 in Franklin Resources, acquiring 33,456 shares during the first quarter.
• Despite a positive earnings report, Franklin Resources has seen varied analyst ratings, with three analysts rating it as a Buy and five issuing a Sell rating.
• The current market capitalization of Franklin Resources stands at $13.18 billion, with a recent stock price of $25.38.

Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 33,456 shares of the closed-end fund's stock, valued at approximately $644,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 147.1% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,238 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the first quarter valued at $46,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 39.4% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 78.3% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 3,139 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 1,378 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company's stock.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BEN traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $25.69. The stock had a trading volume of 4,191,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,469,752. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $24.65 and a 200-day moving average of $21.69. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.25 and a fifty-two week high of $26.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $13.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.37, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.46.

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

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Franklin Resources's dividend payout ratio is presently 250.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BEN. Zacks Research cut Franklin Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up previously from $20.00) on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, August 4th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, June 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $23.58.

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.