Investors Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN)

Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 9,664 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 509% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,586 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on BEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $22.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. 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, February 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, 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 report on Monday, February 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.86.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Franklin Resources

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,715,809 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $765,254,000 after buying an additional 1,095,373 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,155,516 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $432,730,000 after purchasing an additional 599,045 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,721,446 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $237,828,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011,755 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,403,875 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $190,805,000 after purchasing an additional 1,542,478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,334,601 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $147,312,000 after purchasing an additional 422,688 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of Franklin Resources stock traded up $0.22 on Monday, hitting $19.74. The company had a trading volume of 1,019,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,190,478. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The company has a market cap of $10.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.36, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.42. Franklin Resources has a 52 week low of $18.83 and a 52 week high of $28.15.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 4.32% and a return on equity of 9.45%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Franklin Resources will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.49%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 196.92%.

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.