Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) Raises Dividend to $0.32 Per Share

Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 4th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.32 per share by the closed-end fund on Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.20%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 30th. This is a positive change from Franklin Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31.

Franklin Resources has decreased its dividend by an average of 6.2% annually over the last three years. Franklin Resources has a payout ratio of 52.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Franklin Resources to earn $2.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 49.4%.

Franklin Resources Trading Down 1.4 %

BEN opened at $20.66 on Friday. Franklin Resources has a one year low of $18.94 and a one year high of $30.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market cap of $10.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $21.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.45.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.01). Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 9.62%. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Franklin Resources will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BEN. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Franklin Resources from $23.75 to $21.25 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.66.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Franklin Resources news, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 8,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.69, for a total transaction of $369,923.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,019 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,229,020.11. This represents a 14.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,024 shares of company stock valued at $1,051,375. Company insiders own 24.13% of the company’s stock.

About Franklin Resources

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.