Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Has $1.91 Million Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 34.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 97,550 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after purchasing an additional 25,164 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $1,909,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,715,809 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $765,254,000 after buying an additional 1,095,373 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,721,446 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $237,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,011,755 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,403,875 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $190,805,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542,478 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Franklin Resources by 33.1% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,438,863 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $130,645,000 after acquiring an additional 1,599,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Franklin Resources by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,002,950 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $121,797,000 after acquiring an additional 460,270 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BEN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Franklin Resources from $14.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $29.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $21.83.

Franklin Resources Trading Down 0.0%

BEN traded down $0.01 during trading on Monday, hitting $24.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,393,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,640,272. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.57, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.45. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.25 and a twelve month high of $25.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $22.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.57.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The closed-end fund reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.44 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 4.65% and a return on equity of 9.13%. Franklin Resources's revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 5.15%. Franklin Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 188.24%.

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.