Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. $FELE

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. by 1.6%, owning approximately 1.12% of the company, valued at $48.06 million.
• Wall Street analysts have raised their target price for Franklin Electric, with Robert W. Baird increasing it from $94.00 to $107.00, and an upgraded rating from "hold" to "buy" by Wall Street Zen.
• Franklin Electric recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.265 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 1.1%, and announced a share buyback plan allowing repurchase of 1.2 million shares.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE - Free Report) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 511,965 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,190 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 1.12% of Franklin Electric worth $48,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Franklin Electric by 168.5% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Franklin Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. USA Financial Formulas lifted its holdings in Franklin Electric by 50.0% in the first quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 900 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Franklin Electric by 60.7% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the period. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in Franklin Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $127,000. 79.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Franklin Electric

In related news, insider Jonathan M. Grandon sold 10,036 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.03, for a total transaction of $983,829.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 8,171 shares in the company, valued at $801,003.13. The trade was a 55.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David M. Wathen sold 25,402 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.22, for a total value of $2,164,758.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 49,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,175,780. The trade was a 34.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 84,438 shares of company stock worth $7,346,238 in the last quarter. 2.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Franklin Electric Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:FELE traded down $0.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $95.76. The company had a trading volume of 158,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 264,085. The stock has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.08. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a one year low of $78.87 and a one year high of $111.94. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $587.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Electric declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, June 13th that allows the company to buyback 1,200,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Franklin Electric Dividend Announcement

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

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.