Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

Separately, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Franklin Electric from $94.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th.

Franklin Electric Price Performance

Shares of FELE opened at $93.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.08. Franklin Electric has a twelve month low of $78.87 and a twelve month high of $111.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a 50 day moving average of $89.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.95.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $587.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $566.61 million. Franklin Electric had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 14.05%. As a group, analysts predict that Franklin Electric will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 7th will be issued a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 7th. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Franklin Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Franklin Electric declared that its board has initiated 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 usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Franklin Electric news, Director David M. Wathen sold 25,402 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 49,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,175,780. This trade represents a 34.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David M. Wathen sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was 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 ninety days, insiders sold 99,402 shares of company stock valued at $8,529,908. Corporate insiders own 2.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Franklin Electric

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 168.5% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric in the first quarter worth $46,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric in the fourth quarter worth $52,000. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 27.4% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, USA Financial Formulas increased its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 50.0% in the first quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.98% of the company’s stock.

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.