Shares of Franklin Resources Inc. BEN, +2.91% climbed 0.7% in premarket trade Thursday, after the investment management company increased its stock repurchase program, which could be valued at up to $2.6 billion at current share prices. The increase comes after the stock has plummeted 25% year to date to close Wednesday at the lowest level since July 5, 2016, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.94% has slipped 1.2%. The company said it can now buy up to an additional 80 million shares, 14.8% of the shares outstanding, in addition to the 15.9 million shares remaining in the previous program. At Wednesday's closing price of $32.43, the additional authorization could be worth $2.60 billion, in addition to the $515.6 million remaining in the previous program.