Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the five ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $100.00.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Franklin Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 14th. Northcoast Research upgraded Franklin Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Franklin Electric from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Franklin Electric

In other Franklin Electric news, CEO Gregg C. Sengstack sold 10,366 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.96, for a total transaction of $1,036,185.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 154,993 shares in the company, valued at $15,493,100.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Franklin Electric

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Franklin Electric during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 88.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 314 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric in the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. 79.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Franklin Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ FELE opened at $100.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $101.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.70. Franklin Electric has a twelve month low of $82.61 and a twelve month high of $107.89.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $472.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.47 million. Franklin Electric had a return on equity of 16.67% and a net margin of 9.36%. The business’s revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Franklin Electric will post 4.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 1st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 31st. This is an increase from Franklin Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. Franklin Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 24.33%.

Franklin Electric Company Profile

Franklin Electric Co, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and distributes water and fuel pumping systems worldwide. The company operates through Water Systems, Fueling Systems, and Distribution segments. The Water Systems segment offers submersible motors, drives, pumps, electronic controls, water treatment systems, monitoring devices, and related parts and equipment.