Boston Trust Walden Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

Boston Trust Walden Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE - Free Report) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 639,056 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 9,460 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned 1.40% of Franklin Electric worth $59,995,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Franklin Electric by 189.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 642 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas boosted its position in shares of Franklin Electric by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 900 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $127,000. Institutional investors own 79.98% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on FELE. Wall Street Zen upgraded Franklin Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Franklin Electric from $111.00 to $94.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th.

Insider Transactions at Franklin Electric

In other news, Director David M. Wathen sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.10, for a total value of $2,066,400.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David M. Wathen sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.70, for a total value of $2,167,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 74,402 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,450,653.40. This trade represents a 25.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 99,402 shares of company stock valued at $8,529,908 over the last ninety days. 2.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Franklin Electric Stock Down 0.9%

FELE stock traded down $0.78 during trading on Friday, reaching $84.95. 513,480 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 213,708. The firm's 50 day moving average is $86.96 and its 200 day moving average is $94.59. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $78.87 and a twelve month high of $111.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Franklin Electric Dividend Announcement

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

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

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.