Whitener Capital Management Inc. Acquires 1,630 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Whitener Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 9.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,514 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,630 shares during the period. Whitener Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Franklin Resources in the first quarter valued at approximately $55,460,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 197.0% in the first quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,598,687 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $70,009,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723,802 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 937.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,576,101 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $2,781,000 after acquiring an additional 1,424,200 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 202.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,126,650 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $59,377,000 after buying an additional 1,424,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 4.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,072,606 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $951,307,000 after buying an additional 1,390,583 shares during the last quarter. 46.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Franklin Resources Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of BEN traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $26.14. The company had a trading volume of 608,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,310,833. The company has a market capitalization of $13.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.34 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $20.24 and a one year high of $34.37. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $27.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.66.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 10.43% and a net margin of 10.51%. The firm had revenue of $1.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 13th. Investors of record on Friday, September 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 28th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.59%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BEN has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Franklin Resources from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 8th. StockNews.com began coverage on Franklin Resources in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $24.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Franklin Resources from $25.50 to $26.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $25.25.

Franklin Resources Profile

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.