Citigroup Inc. Acquires 88,727 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 22.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 486,806 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 88,727 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Franklin Resources worth $9,371,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BEN. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 147.1% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,238 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 737 shares in the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 350.4% during the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 1,261 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 981 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 49.9% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Franklin Resources during the first quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 39.4% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $23.00 price target (up previously from $20.00) on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, June 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.58.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of Franklin Resources stock opened at $25.34 on Friday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.25 and a 52-week high of $26.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a fifty day moving average of $24.16 and a 200-day moving average of $21.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 1.55.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The closed-end fund reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 27th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is 250.98%.

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.