Millennium Management LLC Buys 50,434 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Key Points

• Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Franklin Resources, acquiring an additional 50,434 shares, bringing its ownership to 1,685,121 shares, valued at approximately $32.4 million.
• Franklin Resources announced a quarterly dividend of $0.32, which represents a yield of 5.3%, and is set to be paid out on October 10th.
• The company's latest earnings report indicated a EPS of $0.49 and revenue of $2.06 billion, with an anticipated EPS of $2.16 for the current year.

Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 3.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,685,121 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after buying an additional 50,434 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned about 0.32% of Franklin Resources worth $32,439,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 147.1% during the fourth 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 49.9% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Franklin Resources in the 1st quarter worth about $46,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 39.4% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 78.3% during 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BEN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, June 16th. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating and set a $23.00 price target (up previously from $20.00) on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley increased 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, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Franklin Resources from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $29.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, June 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $23.58.

Franklin Resources Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE BEN traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $24.65. 3,034,050 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,416,089. The business's 50 day moving average is $24.94 and its 200-day moving average is $22.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.51. 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 12-month low of $16.25 and a 12-month high of $26.08.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors 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 5.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. Franklin Resources's payout ratio 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.