Boston Trust Walden Corp Has $60 Million Stock Holdings in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

Boston Trust Walden Corp lessened its stake in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE - Free Report) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 639,056 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 9,460 shares during the quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned about 1.40% of Franklin Electric worth $59,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Franklin Electric by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,769,582 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $464,796,000 after purchasing an additional 45,174 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Franklin Electric by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 811,682 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $79,098,000 after purchasing an additional 143,917 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Franklin Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $56,968,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Franklin Electric by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 513,896 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $50,079,000 after purchasing an additional 50,750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Franklin Electric by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 503,775 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $49,093,000 after purchasing an additional 10,580 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.98% of the company's stock.

Franklin Electric Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of Franklin Electric stock traded down $0.78 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $84.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 513,480 shares, compared to its average volume of 213,708. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $78.87 and a 12 month high of $111.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $86.96 and a 200 day moving average of $94.68. The company has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a PE ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE - Get Free Report) 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 the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.06). Franklin Electric had a return on equity of 14.08% and a net margin of 8.85%. The business had revenue of $455.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $471.21 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Franklin Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.75%.

Franklin Electric declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, June 13th that permits the company to buyback 1,200,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on FELE. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Franklin Electric from $111.00 to $94.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Franklin Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th.

Insider Transactions at Franklin Electric

In other news, Director David M. Wathen sold 25,402 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.22, for a total transaction of $2,164,758.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,175,780. This represents a 34.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David M. Wathen sold 24,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.10, for a total value of $2,066,400.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,402 shares of company stock valued at $8,529,908 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.72% of the company's stock.

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.