How to buy Franklin Universal Trust stock | $7.39

Franklin Universal Trust is an asset management business based in the US. Franklin Universal Trust shares (FT) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars.

How to buy shares in Franklin Universal Trust

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Franklin Universal Trust. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: FT. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Franklin Universal Trust reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$7.39, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Franklin Universal Trust, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Franklin Universal Trust. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

Franklin Universal Trust share price

Use our graph to track the performance of FT stocks over time.

Franklin Universal Trust shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-12-27.

Latest market close	USD$7.39
52-week range	USD$4.4547 - USD$7.9281
50-day moving average	USD$7.253
200-day moving average	USD$6.9938
Wall St. target price	N/A
PE ratio	11.8814
Dividend yield	USD$0.38 (5.22%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$0.602

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Is it a good time to buy Franklin Universal Trust stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Franklin Universal Trust by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Franklin Universal Trust price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $7.39 from 2021-01-11

1 week (2021-01-07)	-0.54%
1 month (2020-12-15)	0.82%
3 months (2020-10-15)	5.72%
6 months (2020-07-15)	9.16%

1 year (2020-01-15)	-6.81%
2 years (2019-01-15)	13.00%
3 years (2018-01-13)	N/A
5 years (2016-01-15)	32.91%

Is Franklin Universal Trust under- or over-valued?

Valuing Franklin Universal Trust stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Franklin Universal Trust's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Franklin Universal Trust's P/E ratio

Franklin Universal Trust's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 12x. In other words, Franklin Universal Trust shares trade at around 12x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

Franklin Universal Trust financials

Revenue TTM	USD$15.5 million
Operating margin TTM	83.32%
Gross profit TTM	USD$15.5 million
Return on assets TTM	2.91%
Return on equity TTM	-0.72%
Profit margin	-9.78%
Book value	$8.121
Market capitalisation	USD$184.7 million

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Franklin Universal Trust shares

There are currently 5,573 Franklin Universal Trust shares held short by investors – that's known as Franklin Universal Trust's "short interest". This figure is 44.5% down from 10,037 last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Franklin Universal Trust shares can be evaluated.

Franklin Universal Trust's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Franklin Universal Trust's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Franklin Universal Trust shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Franklin Universal Trust shares traded daily (recently around 34831.25). Franklin Universal Trust's SIR currently stands at 0.16. In other words for every 100,000 Franklin Universal Trust shares traded daily on the market, roughly 160 shares are currently held short.

However Franklin Universal Trust's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Franklin Universal Trust shares, or, against the total number of tradable Franklin Universal Trust shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Franklin Universal Trust's short interest could be expressed as 0% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Franklin Universal Trust shares in existence, roughly 0 shares are currently held short) or 0% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Franklin Universal Trust shares, roughly 0 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Franklin Universal Trust.

Find out more about how you can short Franklin Universal Trust stock.

Franklin Universal Trust share dividends

We're not expecting Franklin Universal Trust to pay a dividend over the next 12 months.

Franklin Universal Trust share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Franklin Universal Trust's shares have ranged in value from as little as $4.4547 up to $7.9281. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Franklin Universal Trust's is 0.6115. This would suggest that Franklin Universal Trust's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Franklin Universal Trust overview

Franklin Universal Trust is a closed-ended balanced mutual fund launched by Franklin Resources, Inc. The fund is managed by Franklin Advisers, Inc. It invests in the public equity and fixed income markets of the United States. The fund invests in companies operating in utility sector. It employs fundamental analysis to invest in a diversified portfolio of corporate bonds and dividend paying utility stocks. The fund benchmarks the equity component of its balanced portfolio against the S&P 500 Electric Utilities Index and the fixed component against the Credit Suisse High Yield. Franklin Universal Trust was formed on September 23, 1988 and is domiciled in the United States.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Franklin Universal Trust is owned by institutions?

  Currently 24.878% of Franklin Universal Trust shares are held by institutions.

• When does the fiscal year end for Franklin Universal Trust?

  Franklin Universal Trust's fiscal year ends in August.

• Where is Franklin Universal Trust based?

  Franklin Universal Trust's address is: One Franklin Parkway, San Mateo, CA, United States, 94403-1906

• What is Franklin Universal Trust's ISIN number?

  Franklin Universal Trust's international securities identification number is: US3551451038

• What is Franklin Universal Trust's CUSIP number?

  Franklin Universal Trust's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 355145103