Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $15.83 Million Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Key Points

• Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 66.6%, now holding 822,244 shares valued at approximately $15.8 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Evergreen Quality Fund and Two Sigma Advisers, significantly boosted their stakes in Franklin Resources during the recent quarters.
• Franklin Resources declared a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share, with a 5.1% dividend yield, set to be paid on October 10th.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 66.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 822,244 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after acquiring an additional 328,800 shares during the period. Franklin Resources comprises about 0.6% of Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. owned approximately 0.16% of Franklin Resources worth $15,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BEN. Comerica Bank lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 81,967 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $1,663,000 after acquiring an additional 7,627 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 57.5% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 648,812 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $13,164,000 after purchasing an additional 236,794 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the 4th quarter worth about $436,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 147.1% during the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,238 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 30.3% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,887,458 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $38,297,000 after purchasing an additional 438,621 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BEN shares. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Franklin Resources from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $29.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. 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 research note on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $23.58.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

BEN traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $24.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,034,050 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,416,089. The stock has a market cap of $12.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.32, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.25 and a twelve month high of $26.08.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 3.73%.The company's revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Franklin Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 250.98%.

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.