MQS Management LLC Purchases New Position in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,408 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $695,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 168.5% during the 1st 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. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Franklin Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. USA Financial Formulas raised its holdings in Franklin Electric by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 900 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Franklin Electric by 60.7% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 444 shares during the period. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in Franklin Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $127,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.98% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David M. Wathen sold 24,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.10, for a total transaction of $2,066,400.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David M. Wathen sold 25,402 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.22, for a total value of $2,164,758.44. Following the transaction, the director directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 99,402 shares of company stock valued at $8,529,908. 2.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FELE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Franklin Electric from $111.00 to $94.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Franklin Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th.

Franklin Electric Trading Down 1.6%

NASDAQ FELE traded down $1.48 during trading on Friday, hitting $91.60. The stock had a trading volume of 139,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 224,068. The company has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 23.98, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.07. 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 $93.43. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $78.87 and a twelve month high of $111.94.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $455.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $471.21 million. Franklin Electric had a net margin of 8.85% and a return on equity of 14.08%. The business's revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Electric declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Friday, June 13th that authorizes the company to buyback 1,200,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the industrial products company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Franklin Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 8th were given a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 8th. Franklin Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.75%.

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.