Prana Capital Management LP Buys 495,747 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Prana Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 135.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 860,762 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 495,747 shares during the period. Prana Capital Management LP’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $19,909,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 5.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 553,184 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 49.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,118,686 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $95,265,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370,132 shares in the last quarter. Azora Capital LP increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 1.7% during the third quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 3,242,470 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $74,998,000 after purchasing an additional 53,741 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.5% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,236,553 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $77,192,000 after purchasing an additional 80,146 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kopernik Global Investors LLC raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 16.7% in the second quarter. Kopernik Global Investors LLC now owns 2,843,849 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $67,826,000 after purchasing an additional 407,867 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Evercore increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Franklin Resources currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $25.89.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of BEN stock opened at $24.63 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.40. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $16.25 and a one year high of $28.32. The firm has a market cap of $12.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 1.86.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The closed-end fund reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.23 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.58% and a net margin of 6.97%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.4%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 122.22%.

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.