Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) Given Consensus Rating of "Reduce" by Analysts

Key Points

• Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) has received a consensus rating of "Reduce" from thirteen analysts, with five recommending a sell, five a hold, and three a buy.
• The company's average 12-month target price is $23.42, with Barclays setting a price target of $23.00 and Cowen upgrading its rating to "buy" with a target of $27.00.
• Franklin Resources recently reported EPS of $0.49 for the last quarter, beating estimates, but its revenue declined by 2.2% year-over-year, totaling $2.06 billion.

Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Reduce" from the thirteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $23.4167.

BEN has been the topic of several research reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Franklin Resources from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Franklin Resources from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $29.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $14.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BEN. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 240.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 100,975 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $2,049,000 after purchasing an additional 71,308 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,415,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Franklin Resources by 230.1% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 291,821 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $5,921,000 after buying an additional 203,414 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Franklin Resources by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 565,771 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $11,477,000 after buying an additional 104,642 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Franklin Resources by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,721,446 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $237,828,000 after buying an additional 1,011,755 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of BEN traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $25.17. 335,009 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,575,582. The company's fifty day moving average price is $23.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.24. The company has a market capitalization of $13.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Franklin Resources has a 12 month low of $16.25 and a 12 month high of $25.42.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The closed-end fund reported $0.49 earnings per share 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 net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Franklin Resources will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 27th. Franklin Resources's payout ratio is presently 250.98%.

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.