RWA Wealth Partners LLC Takes $210,000 Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

RWA Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,051 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in Franklin Resources during the third quarter worth approximately $534,000. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 47.1% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 49,710 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,222,000 after buying an additional 15,914 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 14.4% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 65,325 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,606,000 after buying an additional 8,216 shares in the last quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 8.5% during the third quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 11,694 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $265,000 after buying an additional 920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 1.6% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 443,545 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $10,902,000 after buying an additional 6,867 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BEN shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Franklin Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Franklin Resources from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on Franklin Resources in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.50.

Franklin Resources Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE BEN opened at $24.99 on Friday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.88 and a twelve month high of $30.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.15, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.40.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The closed-end fund reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.07. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 11.15% and a net margin of 12.30%. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.96%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is 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.