Guinness Asset Management LTD Has $374,000 Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 66.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,457 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,337 shares during the quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 250.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,450,190 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $54,664,000 after purchasing an additional 1,751,587 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,465,148 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 517.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,406,324 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $31,431,000 after buying an additional 1,178,594 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 44.7% in the third 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. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Franklin Resources by 110.3% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,623,236 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $36,279,000 after buying an additional 851,442 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $19.00 target price (down from $20.00) on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.50 to $20.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $22.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Franklin Resources currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.18.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of BEN opened at $19.56 on Monday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $18.83 and a one year high of $28.61. The company has a market cap of $10.25 billion, a PE ratio of 22.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $21.14 and a 200-day moving average of $21.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 9.62%. The company’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.38 EPS 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. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This is a positive change from Franklin Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is 148.84%.

Franklin Resources Company 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.