a quarterly cash dividend of $0.21 per share payable on July 10, 2009 to stockholders of record on June 30, 2009, same as the dividend paid for the prior quarter and represents a 5% increase over the quarterly dividend paid for the same quarter last year.

As for financials, Janus Capital(JNS), Franklin Resources(BEN) and T. Rowe Price (TROW) are all up. "It's very hard to call a rally still a bear market rally if you have money coming into these stocks," said Cramer.

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Increase of 5% $0.21 per share payable on April 14, 2009 to stockholders of record on March 31, 2009.

Sell - Price 55.88 on Feb. 10
by Sandler O'Neill

Target: 48. BEN reported total [assets under management] of $402 billion as of Jan. 31, down 4% year-to-date, versus a 1% decrease for Invesco. Aside from market depreciation, we think the sequential decline also reflected net outflows and [foreign-exchange] losses. BEN [appears to have] suffered overall net outflows of $1 billion to $2 billion in January (a 3% to 5% annualized decay rate). Assuming our estimate proves accurate, BEN continues to lose retail-market share... An Investment Company Institute [estimate] puts industry net inflows into long-term mutual funds at $19 billion ($4 billion, equities; $15 billion, fixed income) in January, a 4% organic growth rate. Despite the uptick...ongoing net redemptions across BEN's higher-fee equities and hybrid portfolios seemingly more than offset modest inflows for the fixed-income platform. Market cap: $13 billion.

MacAllaster: My view is long-term. Franklin's success goes back a long way. This year the company will earn less than last year, and it may earn less next year, too. But it is going to end up a much bigger company because it will use its cash to buy assets. In two years it will be making more money than ever before. And remember, the stock was as high as 133 last year.

Property-and-casualty insurance stocks got a lift recently amid expectations of an end to the slide in commercial premiums. Yet, Allstate (ALL) and The Travelers Companies (TRV) still trade at or under book value, while two of the strongest insurers, Ace (ACE) and Chubb (CB), trade at modest premiums to book and at less than 10 times projected 2009 profits. Depressed asset managers like Franklin Resources (BEN) and AllianceBernstein (AB) trade for 10 to 15 times projected 2009 profits.

Market Perform -- Price 108 on Sept. 22
by Keefe Bruyette Woods

Target: 106. We are lowering our target [from 112] to 106 ...14.8 times our calendar "09 EPS estimate of $7.15. While we believe BEN's long-term fundamental value is higher, we expect near-term flow trends to remain negative and outflows from international products could remain a drag ... lowering from Outperform. Market cap: $25.5 billion.

Even at their current prices, private-equity shares aren't bargains. Traditional asset managers such as AllianceBernstein (AB), Franklin Resources (BEN), BlackRock (BLK) and T. Rowe Price (TROW) look like better bets on a recovery in the markets. They're cheaper (based on assets under management) and more diversified, and they don't depend on incentive fees for a sizable chunk of their profits

Franklin Templeton's broad mix of assets is a hedge against a bear market in stocks -- should one develop. Its global heft adds stability, and its long Asian history positions the company to capitalize on that region's youth and growing reliance on wealth management. It also boasts net profit margins near 27%, and has $20 a share in cash. Buckingham Research analyst William Katz sees Franklin as "an inexpensive global platform" with a strong balance sheet. His price target: 120.