Franklin Electric Co., Inc. $FELE Shares Sold by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Advisors Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in Franklin Electric Co. by 47.3%, now holding 8,740 shares worth approximately $821,000 as of the latest SEC filing.
• Franklin Electric reported $1.31 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, and set a FY 2025 guidance of $3.950-4.250 EPS.
• The company has initiated a share buyback plan allowing up to 1.2 million shares to be repurchased, indicating that management may believe shares are undervalued.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE - Free Report) by 47.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,740 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 7,842 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Franklin Electric were worth $821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FELE. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Franklin Electric in the first quarter worth approximately $41,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Franklin Electric by 13,673.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 192,548 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $18,076,000 after acquiring an additional 191,150 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric during the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,798,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Franklin Electric by 241.9% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 73,362 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,887,000 after buying an additional 51,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin Electric by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 430,213 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $41,924,000 after buying an additional 51,137 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.98% of the company's stock.

Franklin Electric Stock Performance

Shares of Franklin Electric stock traded down $0.06 during trading on Monday, reaching $94.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 243,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 184,057. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $94.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.93. The firm has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a PE ratio of 24.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.07. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $78.87 and a fifty-two week high of $111.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $587.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $566.61 million. Franklin Electric had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 14.05%. Franklin Electric has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.950-4.250 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 7th were issued a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 7th. Franklin Electric's payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Franklin Electric declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Friday, June 13th that allows the company to repurchase 1,200,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on FELE shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Franklin Electric from $94.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Franklin Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $107.00.

Insider Activity at Franklin Electric

In other news, insider Jonathan M. Grandon sold 10,036 shares of Franklin Electric stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.03, for a total value of $983,829.08. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,171 shares of the company's stock, valued at $801,003.13. The trade was a 55.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.