Yousif Capital Management LLC Has $1.38 Million Stake in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

Yousif Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) by 1.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,732 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 279 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Franklin Electric were worth $1,383,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Franklin Electric by 168.5% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric in the 4th quarter worth about $52,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 189.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 642 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric in the 4th quarter worth about $127,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric in the 4th quarter worth about $134,000. 79.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David M. Wathen sold 24,000 shares of Franklin Electric stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.10, for a total value of $2,066,400.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David M. Wathen sold 25,402 shares of Franklin Electric stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.22, for a total value of $2,164,758.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,175,780. The trade was a 34.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 99,402 shares of company stock valued at $8,529,908. 2.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on FELE. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Franklin Electric from $111.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Franklin Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th.

Franklin Electric Stock Performance

Shares of FELE opened at $85.85 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $87.21 and a 200 day moving average of $95.15. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $78.87 and a 12 month high of $111.94.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.06). Franklin Electric had a net margin of 8.85% and a return on equity of 14.08%. The business had revenue of $455.25 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $471.21 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Electric declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Friday, June 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase 1,200,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Franklin Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th were issued a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 8th. Franklin Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.75%.

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.