Bank of America Corp DE Lowers Stock Position in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

Bank of America Corp DE lowered its position in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 925,336 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 23,643 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Franklin Electric were worth $90,174,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new position in Franklin Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Franklin Electric by 66.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 497 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Franklin Electric by 189.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 642 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in Franklin Electric by 150.2% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 833 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FELE. StockNews.com lowered shares of Franklin Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Franklin Electric from $111.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th.

Insider Activity at Franklin Electric

In related news, insider Delancey W. Davis sold 961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.14, for a total value of $99,117.54. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,701 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $794,281.14. This trade represents a 11.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Franklin Electric Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Franklin Electric stock opened at $86.93 on Monday. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $78.87 and a 12-month high of $111.94. The company has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.58, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $92.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.48.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.06). Franklin Electric had a return on equity of 14.46% and a net margin of 8.92%. The firm had revenue of $455.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $471.21 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th will be paid a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 8th. Franklin Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.75%.

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.