Franklin Resources, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.32 (NYSE:BEN)

Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 4th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.32 per share by the closed-end fund on Friday, April 11th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.15%.

Franklin Resources has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.4% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 28 consecutive years. Franklin Resources has a payout ratio of 53.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Franklin Resources to earn $2.37 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.0%.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BEN traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $20.82. 5,523,201 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,951,978. The stock has a market cap of $10.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.03, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.42. Franklin Resources has a 1 year low of $18.83 and a 1 year high of $28.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Franklin Resources will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BEN. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.86.

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.