Stock Update (NYSE:BEN): Franklin Templeton remains overweight UK in global equity funds

[Reuters] – Franklin Templeton, one of the world’s largest active fund managers, is sticking to its overweight stance on UK stocks in its global equity funds. The funds are skewed towards UK and Europe with holdings amounting to roughly twice the weight the regions command in the benchmark MSCI AC World index. “Investors remain sceptical, remain on the side-lines, and we think this is an opportunity on a stock-by-stock basis to find companies that get thrown out with the bathwater,” Dylan Ball, a portfolio manager at the Templeton Global Equity Group, told Reuters. Read more on this. Franklin Resources, Inc. (BEN) , with a current value of $19.62B, opened at $33.24. Looking at today’s trading action, the company’s one day range from $33.03 to $33.54 with its 52-week range being $31.00 to $51.94. BEN shares are currently priced at 12.14x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s -55.52x forward p/e ratio. The company pays shareholders $0.72 per share in dividend income per year, for a current yield of 2.13%. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 13 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. In looking at the bigger picture, the full-year EPS estimate of $2.71 would be a $0.58 setback when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $1.63 Billion. If reported, that would be a 18.50% decrease over the year-ago quarter. Recently, UBS downgraded BEN from Neutral to Sell (Jun 2, 2016). Previously, BofA/Merrill downgraded BEN from Neutral to Underperform. When considering if perhaps the stock is under or overvalued, the average price target is $36.71, which is 10.44% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:BEN) Similar Articles: Company Update (NYSE:BEN): Retirement Strategies and Expectations Differ Across Generations, Franklin Templeton Survey Finds Stock Update (NYSE:BEN): Franklin Templeton Investments Announces Approval of Franklin Bissett Mutual Fund Mergers Market Update: Franklin Resources Inc (NYSE:BEN) – Franklin Templeton Investments Launches Franklin California Ultra-Short Tax-Free Income Fund