How to buy Franklin Universal Trust stock

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.

Franklin Universal Trust share price

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Franklin Universal Trust shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2021-04-29.

52-week range	$5.84 - $7.77
50-day moving average	$7.57
200-day moving average	$7.36
Wall St. target price	N/A
PE ratio	21.0792
Dividend yield	$0.384 (4.98%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	$0.37

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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.

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 21x. In other words, Franklin Universal Trust shares trade at around 21x 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	$15.4 million
Operating margin TTM	82.51%
Gross profit TTM	$15.5 million
Return on assets TTM	2.84%
Return on equity TTM	4.38%
Profit margin	59.72%
Book value	$8.35
Market capitalisation	$193.9 million

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Franklin Universal Trust shares

There are currently 11,737 Franklin Universal Trust shares held short by investors – that's known as Franklin Universal Trust's "short interest". This figure is 18.7% down from 14,442 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 39123.333333333). Franklin Universal Trust's SIR currently stands at 0.3. In other words for every 100,000 Franklin Universal Trust shares traded daily on the market, roughly 300 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

Dividend payout ratio: 103.78% of net profits

Recently Franklin Universal Trust has paid out, on average, around 103.78% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 4.96% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Franklin Universal Trust shareholders could enjoy a 4.96% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Franklin Universal Trust's case, that would currently equate to about $0.384 per share.

Franklin Universal Trust's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.

Franklin Universal Trust's most recent dividend payout was on 14 February 2019. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 28 April 2021 (the "ex-dividend date").

Franklin Universal Trust share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Franklin Universal Trust's shares have ranged in value from as little as $5.8417 up to $7.77. 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 0.6227. 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 19.636% 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