New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 650 Shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 24,821 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 650 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Franklin Electric were worth $2,399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FELE. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Franklin Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Franklin Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Franklin Electric by 35.3% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in Franklin Electric by 51.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,094 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Electric during the 4th quarter worth about $200,000. 79.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FELE. Northcoast Research raised shares of 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. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Franklin Electric from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Franklin Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Franklin Electric from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

Franklin Electric Stock Up 0.8 %

Franklin Electric stock opened at $100.78 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 2.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $82.61 and a twelve month high of $107.89. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $102.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.31.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $460.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $477.64 million. Franklin Electric had a net margin of 9.25% and a return on equity of 15.86%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.27 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 1st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Franklin Electric’s payout ratio is presently 24.88%.

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.