Cerity Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 69,072 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,676,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FELE. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Franklin Electric during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Electric during the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new stake in Franklin Electric in the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Franklin Electric by 98.3% during the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 595 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Gregg C. Sengstack sold 10,366 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.96, for a total value of $1,036,185.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 154,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,493,100.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.72% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FELE opened at $100.39 on Tuesday. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $82.61 and a 1-year high of $107.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.85. The firm has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a PE ratio of 24.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $472.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $490.47 million. Franklin Electric had a net margin of 9.36% and a return on equity of 16.67%. The company’s revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.32 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Electric Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FELE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Northcoast Research raised shares of Franklin Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Franklin Electric from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Franklin Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.00.

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.