Greenleaf Trust Invests $243,000 in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Greenleaf Trust acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 8,161 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,563,774 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $161,338,000 after acquiring an additional 415,512 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,053,751 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $75,061,000 after acquiring an additional 202,288 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,840,863 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $45,248,000 after acquiring an additional 14,896 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 138.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,750,779 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $43,034,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 53.6% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,188,199 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $35,396,000 after acquiring an additional 414,826 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on BEN shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Franklin Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.50.

Franklin Resources Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BEN opened at $25.35 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $13.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.34, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.88 and a fifty-two week high of $30.32.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The closed-end fund reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 11.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.26%.

About Franklin Resources

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.