Company Update (NYSE:BEN): Franklin Limited Duration Income Trust Declares Monthly Dividend

[Marketwired] – Franklin Limited Duration Income Trust , a closed-end investment company managed by Franklin Advisers, Inc., announced today a dividend of $0.0620 per share, payable June 15, 2016, to shareholders of record … Read more on this. Franklin Resources, Inc. (BEN) , with a current value of $20.83B, began trading this morning at $34.96. Looking at the stock, its one day range is $34.88 to $35.76 with the price of the stock fluctuating between $31.00 to $51.94 over the last 52 weeks. BEN shares are currently priced at 12.94x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 10.83x earnings multiple for the same period. And for those looking to make a return holding the stock, the company pays shareholders $0.72 per share annually in dividends, yielding 2.05%. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 14 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $0.68 per share, which would be $0.14 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.01 sequential decrease. Investors should also note that the full-year EPS estimate of $2.71 is a $0.58 setback when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $1.64 Billion. If realized, that would be a 18.00% decrease over the year-ago quarter. Recently, BofA/Merrill downgraded BEN from Neutral to Underperform (Mar 15, 2016). Previously, Credit Suisse downgraded BEN from Neutral to Underperform. With the above information in mind, readers should note that the average price target is $37.63, which is 7.64% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:BEN) Similar Articles: Stock Update (NYSE:BEN): Franklin Universal Trust Declares Monthly Dividend 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