Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 1,710 Shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its holdings in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 390,370 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,710 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.85% of Franklin Electric worth $36,648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Franklin Electric by 168.5% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Franklin Electric in the 4th quarter worth $52,000. USA Financial Formulas raised its position in Franklin Electric by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $127,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Franklin Electric by 46.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,051 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $193,000 after acquiring an additional 653 shares during the period. 79.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on FELE. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Franklin Electric from $111.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Franklin Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David M. Wathen sold 25,402 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director owned 49,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,175,780. This represents a 34.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David M. Wathen sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.10, for a total transaction of $2,066,400.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 99,402 shares of company stock valued at $8,529,908. 2.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Franklin Electric Stock Down 0.8%

FELE opened at $90.89 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $88.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $93.39. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $78.87 and a twelve month high of $111.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.79, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.07.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last announced its 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 prior year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Franklin Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 27.75%.

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

Franklin Electric 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.