SVB Wealth LLC Purchases New Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 105,153 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $2,512,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 277.0% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 1,150 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 129.1% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 257.8% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,492 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen increased their price target on Franklin Resources from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings raised Franklin Resources from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.56.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

NYSE:BEN opened at $31.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.56. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $21.06 and a 52-week high of $31.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.01 and a 200 day moving average of $25.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.87.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 8.12%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Franklin Resources

Franklin Resources, Inc, doing business as Franklin Templeton, is a global investment management organization that offers a wide range of asset management solutions to institutional and individual investors. The firm’s core focus is on delivering active portfolio management across equities, fixed income, multi-asset strategies and alternative investments. Franklin Templeton’s product lineup includes mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds, separately managed accounts and sub-advisory services designed to meet varying risk-return objectives and income needs.

Founded in 1947 by Rupert H.