Oakmont Investment Advisors Inc. Buys New Shares in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Oakmont Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 15,715 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $523,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Syon Capital LLC grew its position in Franklin Resources by 6.1% during the second quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 20,884 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $695,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196 shares during the period. United Community Bank raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. United Community Bank now owns 37,849 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,259,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 11.4% during the second quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 49,680 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,653,000 after buying an additional 5,083 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources during the 2nd quarter valued at $63,000. Finally, XML Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the second quarter valued at about $235,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BEN shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.44.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Franklin Resources stock opened at $34.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $17.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $33.74 and a 200-day moving average of $30.20. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.10 and a 52 week high of $36.28.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.06. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is 89.80%.

Franklin Resources Company 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.