UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Buys 30,937 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 658.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,635 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,937 shares during the quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $1,002,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 240.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 882 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 623 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Franklin Resources in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Tobam boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 2,170.0% in the 4th quarter. Tobam now owns 1,135 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,085 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Resources during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the first quarter worth $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE:BEN traded up $0.51 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $23.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 159,363 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,625,291. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.07, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.34. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.57 and a 1 year high of $30.32.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The closed-end fund reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.66 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 11.09%. Franklin Resources’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.30%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is currently 70.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BEN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Franklin Resources from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Franklin Resources from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $25.50 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Franklin Resources

In other news, major shareholder Charles B. Johnson acquired 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $22.80 per share, with a total value of $4,560,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 88,703,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,022,432,777.60. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 24.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.