Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $32.55 and last traded at $32.6660, with a volume of 1842 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $32.13.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BEN. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $30.50 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays set a $31.00 price objective on Franklin Resources and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.00.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 1.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.64 and its 200 day moving average is $26.67. The stock has a market cap of $17.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.55.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.16. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 8.12% and a return on equity of 10.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 29th will be issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 29th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.76%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,882,860 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $259,988,000 after acquiring an additional 816,952 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,122,937 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $241,837,000 after acquiring an additional 768,707 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,069,495 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $192,774,000 after purchasing an additional 272,335 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,083,168 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $169,217,000 after purchasing an additional 243,836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Azora Capital LP lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 78.8% in the fourth quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 5,796,575 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $138,480,000 after purchasing an additional 2,554,105 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

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.