Trust Point Inc. Purchases Shares of 7,547 Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

Trust Point Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 7,547 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FELE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Franklin Electric by 7.3% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 107,714 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,945,000 after buying an additional 7,354 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Franklin Electric by 9.6% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,455 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Franklin Electric by 5.5% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $453,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in Franklin Electric by 7.3% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 44,785 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,718,000 after purchasing an additional 3,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in Franklin Electric by 6.4% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 11,711 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $972,000 after purchasing an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Franklin Electric Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ FELE opened at $102.48 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 2.97. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a one year low of $82.61 and a one year high of $107.89. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.93, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.96.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.02). Franklin Electric had a net margin of 9.36% and a return on equity of 16.67%. The business had revenue of $472.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $490.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 1st were paid a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from Franklin Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 31st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Franklin Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gregg C. Sengstack sold 10,366 shares of Franklin Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.96, for a total value of $1,036,185.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 154,993 shares in the company, valued at $15,493,100.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.