Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Sells 16,000 Shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. decreased its position in shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) by 15.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 85,700 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 16,000 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. owned approximately 0.19% of Franklin Electric worth $8,283,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FELE. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 37.7% in the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 26,778 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,588,000 after purchasing an additional 7,325 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 23.2% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Franklin Electric in the third quarter worth about $767,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,656,427 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $415,493,000 after purchasing an additional 17,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 12.5% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 3,521 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Franklin Electric Stock Down 6.8 %

NASDAQ:FELE opened at $96.27 on Wednesday. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $82.61 and a 1-year high of $107.89. The company has a 50-day moving average of $102.35 and a 200 day moving average of $95.87. The firm has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 23.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $472.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $490.47 million. Franklin Electric had a return on equity of 16.67% and a net margin of 9.36%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 1st. Franklin Electric’s payout ratio is 24.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Franklin Electric

In other Franklin Electric news, CEO Gregg C. Sengstack sold 10,366 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.72% of the company’s stock.

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.