AIA Group Ltd Buys 1,893 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

AIA Group Ltd boosted its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 15.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,175 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,893 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $288,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the 4th quarter worth about $53,676,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 263.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,022,055 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $40,744,000 after buying an additional 1,465,148 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 62.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,752,326 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $75,928,000 after buying an additional 1,449,210 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Franklin Resources by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,715,809 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $765,254,000 after acquiring an additional 1,095,373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $59,316,000 after acquiring an additional 709,736 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $21.00 to $22.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.50 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.86.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of BEN stock opened at $19.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.68, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $20.13 and a 200 day moving average of $20.57. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.74 and a 52 week high of $28.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business posted $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.63%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 196.92%.

Franklin Resources Company 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.