Kestra Investment Management LLC Purchases 18,903 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Kestra Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 105.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,791 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after buying an additional 18,903 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 263.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,022,055 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $40,744,000 after purchasing an additional 1,465,148 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 44.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,998,574 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $60,421,000 after purchasing an additional 925,590 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 2,923,399 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $59,316,000 after purchasing an additional 709,736 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,155,516 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $432,730,000 after purchasing an additional 599,045 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 76.7% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,290,200 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $25,998,000 after purchasing an additional 560,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.86.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BEN opened at $20.90 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $20.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market cap of $10.98 billion, a PE ratio of 32.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.42. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.83 and a 1 year high of $28.61.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 4.32% and a return on equity of 9.45%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.13%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is 196.93%.

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.