Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) Short Interest Up 6.7% in January

Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 25,150,000 shares, an increase of 6.7% from the December 31st total of 23,560,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,010,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.3 days. Currently, 9.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Franklin Resources

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,155,516 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $432,730,000 after purchasing an additional 599,045 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,334,601 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $147,312,000 after buying an additional 422,688 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 44.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,998,574 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $60,421,000 after buying an additional 925,590 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 2,923,399 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $59,316,000 after buying an additional 709,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 263.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,022,055 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $40,744,000 after buying an additional 1,465,148 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BEN. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.50 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.86.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Franklin Resources stock traded up $0.20 on Tuesday, reaching $20.92. The company had a trading volume of 1,473,501 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,756,385. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $20.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. Franklin Resources has a 52-week low of $18.83 and a 52-week high of $28.61. The firm has a market cap of $10.96 billion, a PE ratio of 32.21, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.42.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 4.32%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Franklin Resources will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This is a positive change from Franklin Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.12%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is 196.93%.

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.