Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Raises Stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 78.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 80,905 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after buying an additional 35,560 shares during the quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $2,410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BEN. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the first quarter worth about $55,460,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 937.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,576,101 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 1,424,200 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 202.7% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,126,650 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $59,377,000 after purchasing an additional 1,424,044 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 4.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,072,606 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $951,307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390,583 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Franklin Resources in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,423,000. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.39.

Franklin Resources Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of BEN stock traded down $0.12 on Tuesday, hitting $24.82. The stock had a trading volume of 3,520,373 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,407,029. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $27.21 and its 200-day moving average is $26.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $21.88 and a 52-week high of $30.32.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The closed-end fund reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.26%.

Franklin Resources 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.