Empirical Finance LLC Purchases New Stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Key Points

• Empirical Finance LLC has acquired a new stake in Franklin Resources, purchasing 10,641 shares valued at approximately $205,000 during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Invesco Ltd. and ProShare Advisors LLC, have significantly increased their stakes in Franklin Resources, reflecting a collective <>47.56% ownership from institutional investors.
• Franklin Resources has recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.32, equating to an annualized yield of 5.21%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 188.24%.

Empirical Finance LLC acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 10,641 shares of the closed-end fund's stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 8,789 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares during the period. Whitener Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,245 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 688 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 47,544 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $964,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 39.4% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 732 shares during the period. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 147.1% during 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 period. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Barclays boosted their price target on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Franklin Resources from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $21.92.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of Franklin Resources stock traded down $0.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $23.95. The stock had a trading volume of 8,425,904 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,801,353. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market cap of $12.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.22, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.46. The business has a fifty day moving average of $23.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.00. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.25 and a fifty-two week high of $25.36.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.13% and a net margin of 4.65%. The company's revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 27th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. Franklin Resources's payout ratio is 188.24%.

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.