Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Invests $1.07 Million in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 35,871 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $1,069,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in Franklin Resources by 148.7% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 65,100 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,939,000 after buying an additional 38,919 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,491,598 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $44,435,000 after purchasing an additional 144,843 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC grew its position in Franklin Resources by 53.6% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,188,199 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $35,396,000 after purchasing an additional 414,826 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 966,212 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $23,749,000 after purchasing an additional 110,806 shares during the period. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 290,588 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $8,657,000 after buying an additional 2,338 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $29.00 to $25.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.00.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 0.8 %

BEN opened at $23.48 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.38. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.88 and a 12 month high of $30.32.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The closed-end fund reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.01). Franklin Resources had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The business had revenue of $2.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.61 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.