Advisors Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. $FELE

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

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FELE. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 80,432 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $7,838,000 after buying an additional 10,862 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 90,480 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $8,817,000 after buying an additional 2,229 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 5,583 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $544,000 after buying an additional 1,953 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 87,906 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $8,567,000 after buying an additional 11,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 32,195 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,137,000 after buying an additional 1,842 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.98% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Franklin Electric

In related news, insider Jonathan M. Grandon sold 10,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.03, for a total value of $983,829.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 8,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $801,003.13. This represents a 55.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on FELE shares. Wall Street Zen raised Franklin Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Franklin Electric from $94.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $107.00.

Franklin Electric Trading Down 2.3%

FELE traded down $2.23 during trading on Friday, hitting $94.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 141,977 shares, compared to its average volume of 191,546. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $94.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a PE ratio of 24.45, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.07. 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 issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 8.71%. Franklin Electric has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.950-4.250 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Electric announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, June 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase 1,200,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Franklin Electric Announces Dividend

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

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.