Franklin Resources (BEN) Competitors

State Street (NYSE:STT) and Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, earnings, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Is STT or BEN more profitable?

State Street has a net margin of 12.85% compared to Franklin Resources' net margin of 4.65%. State Street's return on equity of 12.79% beat Franklin Resources' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
State Street	12.85%	12.79%	0.84%
Franklin Resources	4.65%	9.13%	3.74%

Do analysts rate STT or BEN?

State Street currently has a consensus target price of $106.46, suggesting a potential downside of 3.49%. Franklin Resources has a consensus target price of $21.21, suggesting a potential downside of 14.31%. Given State Street's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe State Street is more favorable than Franklin Resources.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
State Street	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43
Franklin Resources	5 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.85

Do institutionals and insiders believe in STT or BEN?

87.4% of State Street shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.6% of Franklin Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of State Street shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 22.9% of Franklin Resources shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, STT or BEN?

State Street has higher revenue and earnings than Franklin Resources. State Street is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Franklin Resources, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
State Street	$22.13B	1.42	$2.69B	$8.91	12.38
Franklin Resources	$8.48B	1.53	$464.80M	$0.68	36.40

Does the media prefer STT or BEN?

In the previous week, State Street had 30 more articles in the media than Franklin Resources. MarketBeat recorded 53 mentions for State Street and 23 mentions for Franklin Resources. State Street's average media sentiment score of 0.77 beat Franklin Resources' score of 0.55 indicating that State Street is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
State Street	18 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	17 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Franklin Resources	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is STT or BEN a better dividend stock?

State Street pays an annual dividend of $3.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Franklin Resources pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. State Street pays out 34.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Franklin Resources pays out 188.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. State Street has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years and Franklin Resources has increased its dividend for 45 consecutive years. Franklin Resources is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, STT or BEN?

State Street has a beta of 1.45, indicating that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Franklin Resources has a beta of 1.45, indicating that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

State Street beats Franklin Resources on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.