Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.03, Zacks reports. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.62% and a net margin of 5.48%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 10.3 %

Shares of BEN stock opened at $22.22 on Friday. Franklin Resources has a 1-year low of $18.83 and a 1-year high of $28.61. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.01. The firm has a market cap of $11.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.84, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.41. 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 Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.76%. This is an increase from Franklin Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 148.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BEN shares. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays cut their price target on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.18.

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.