Mork Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Mork Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 48,400 shares of the closed-end fund's stock, valued at approximately $982,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,715,809 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $765,254,000 after acquiring an additional 1,095,373 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,721,446 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $237,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,011,755 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 period. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 62.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,752,326 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $75,928,000 after acquiring an additional 1,449,210 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company's stock.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of BEN traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $22.38. 5,059,343 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,342,195. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.25 and a fifty-two week high of $24.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The business has a 50-day moving average of $19.15 and a 200-day moving average of $20.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.39.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The closed-end fund reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.44 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 4.32% and a return on equity of 9.45%. Franklin Resources's revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.50 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $20.25.

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.