Raymond James & Associates Sells 124 Shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

Raymond James & Associates lowered its stake in shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,442 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 124 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Franklin Electric were worth $333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 24,332 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,171,000 after purchasing an additional 4,582 shares in the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Electric during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $767,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,656,427 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $415,493,000 after acquiring an additional 17,092 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 3,521 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $314,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 150,559 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,434,000 after acquiring an additional 21,066 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. 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 report on Wednesday, February 14th. Northcoast Research raised Franklin Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Franklin Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, January 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Franklin Electric has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.00.

Insider Transactions at Franklin Electric

In other news, CEO Gregg C. Sengstack sold 10,366 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,493,100.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Franklin Electric Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FELE opened at $102.77 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $102.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.70. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a one year low of $82.61 and a one year high of $107.89. The firm has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Franklin Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 1st. Franklin Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.33%.

About Franklin Electric

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.