Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN – Get Rating) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 13,622 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $359,000.
A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 39,762 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,048,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 4.7% in the third quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,953 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $214,000 after buying an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,729 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,586 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abundance Wealth Counselors raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors now owns 28,228 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $745,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.47% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research firms recently issued reports on BEN. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $27.00 to $24.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Franklin Resources presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.55.
Insider Activity at Franklin Resources
Franklin Resources Price Performance
Shares of BEN stock opened at $24.08 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.06 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.24 and a twelve month high of $34.37.
Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The closed-end fund reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 11.21%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Franklin Resources Profile
Franklin Resources, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of investment management and related services. The firm offers services and products under various distinct brand names, including, but not limited to, Franklin, Templeton, Legg Mason, Benefit Street Partners, Brandywine Global Investment Management, Clarion Partners, ClearBridge Investments, Fiduciary Trust International, Franklin Bissett, Franklin Mutual Series, K2, LibertyShares, Martin Currie, Royce Investment Partners and Western Asset Management Company.
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