Stock Update (NYSE:BEN): Franklin Universal Trust Declares Monthly Dividend

[Marketwired] – Franklin Universal Trust , a closed-end investment company managed by Franklin Advisers, Inc., announced today a dividend of $0.0395 per share, payable April 15, 2016, to shareholders of record on March … Read more on this. Franklin Resources, Inc. (BEN) , valued at $23.17B, started trading this morning at $38.97. Today, shares have traded between $38.43 and $39.49 per share with the price of the stock fluctuating between $31.00 to $54.04 over the last 52 weeks. Priced at 14.15x this year’s forecasted earnings, BEN shares are relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 9.11x forward p/e ratio. And for passive income investors, the company pays shareholders $0.72 per share annually in dividends, yielding 1.95%. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 15 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $0.62 per share, which would be $0.36 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.13 sequential decrease. The full-year EPS estimate is $2.74 which would be a $0.55 worse than last year’s full-year earnings. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $1.65 Billion. If realized, that would be a 17.91% decrease over the year-ago quarter. In terms of ratings, BofA/Merrill downgraded BEN from Neutral to Underperform (Mar 15, 2016). Previously, Credit Suisse downgraded BEN from Neutral to Underperform. The average price target for BEN shares by the analysts covering it is $35.65, which is 8.52% below where the stock opened. See more in (NYSE:BEN) Similar Articles: Market Update: Franklin Resources Inc (NYSE:BEN) – Franklin Universal Trust Declares Monthly Dividend Company Update: Franklin Resources Inc (NYSE:BEN) – Franklin Limited Duration Income Trust Declares Monthly Dividend Company Update: Franklin Resources Inc (NYSE:BEN) – Franklin Universal Trust Declares Monthly Dividend