Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN Shares Acquired by New Age Alpha Advisors LLC

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 50.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,076 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,065 shares during the quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $1,149,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,065,908 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $232,833,000 after purchasing an additional 553,184 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,083,168 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $169,217,000 after purchasing an additional 243,836 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Franklin Resources by 49.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,118,686 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $95,265,000 after acquiring an additional 1,370,132 shares during the period. Azora Capital LP increased its position in Franklin Resources by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 3,242,470 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $74,998,000 after acquiring an additional 53,741 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Franklin Resources in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $51,384,000. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BEN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $21.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Franklin Resources from $30.50 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Franklin Resources from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.56.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BEN opened at $31.67 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.17, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.56. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.74. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $21.06 and a 52-week high of $32.44.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 8.12%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 29th will be given a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 29th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.76%.

Franklin Resources Profile

Franklin Resources, Inc, doing business as Franklin Templeton, is a global investment management organization that offers a wide range of asset management solutions to institutional and individual investors. The firm’s core focus is on delivering active portfolio management across equities, fixed income, multi-asset strategies and alternative investments. Franklin Templeton’s product lineup includes mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds, separately managed accounts and sub-advisory services designed to meet varying risk-return objectives and income needs.

Founded in 1947 by Rupert H.