Cullen Investment Group LTD. Invests $682,000 in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. bought a new position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 22,882 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $682,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of BEN. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 63.4% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 74,206 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,072,000 after purchasing an additional 28,795 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 24.8% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 11,477 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 2,277 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 23.5% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 76,665 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,140,000 after purchasing an additional 14,580 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 89.2% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,852 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 17,376 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 4.0% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 489,475 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $13,666,000 after purchasing an additional 18,645 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.39.

Franklin Resources Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of BEN opened at $24.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.13 billion, a PE ratio of 13.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.40. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.88 and a 1 year high of $30.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.29.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The closed-end fund reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 11.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.97%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.26%.

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.