Cadence Bank Acquires 7,261 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

by · The Markets Daily

Cadence Bank increased its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN – Free Report) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 408,389 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after buying an additional 7,261 shares during the quarter. Cadence Bank owned 0.08% of Franklin Resources worth $8,286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Franklin Resources by 71.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,667 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $598,000 after buying an additional 12,336 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 8.6% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 13,457 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Franklin Resources during the third quarter worth about $880,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.2% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,485 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 2,604 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BEN shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $17.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.96.

View Our Latest Stock Report on BEN

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of Franklin Resources stock opened at $17.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a fifty day moving average of $19.38 and a 200-day moving average of $20.30. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.25 and a 52-week high of $25.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 4.32%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.26%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 196.92%.

Franklin Resources Profile

(Free Report)

Franklin Resources, Inc is a publicly owned asset management holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides its services to individuals, institutions, pension plans, trusts, and partnerships. It launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and multi-asset mutual funds through its subsidiaries.

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