Sound Income Strategies LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 8.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 460,768 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,980 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $12,952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 240.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 882 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 623 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV acquired a new position in Franklin Resources in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 149.1% in the fourth quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,111 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. Tobam increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 2,170.0% in the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 1,135 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,085 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Franklin Resources in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Charles B. Johnson acquired 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $22.80 per share, for a total transaction of $4,560,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 88,703,192 shares in the company, valued at $2,022,432,777.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 24.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Franklin Resources from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Franklin Resources from $29.00 to $25.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Franklin Resources from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Franklin Resources from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.00.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of BEN stock traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $22.70. 1,782,255 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,668,495. The firm has a market cap of $11.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.23. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.57 and a twelve month high of $30.32.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The closed-end fund reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $2.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.66 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 11.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.61 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.46%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is 70.86%.

About Franklin Resources

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.