First National Advisers LLC Purchases New Position in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

Key Points

• First National Advisers LLC has acquired 7,773 shares in Franklin Electric Co., Inc., valued at approximately $730,000, in its first-quarter SEC filing.
• Franklin Electric announced a quarterly dividend of $0.265 per share, with a payout ratio of 27.75% and an annualized yield of 1.14%.
• The company's recent earnings report revealed a miss on analysts' expectations, reporting $0.67 EPS against a consensus estimate of $0.73, with quarterly revenue decreasing by 1.2% year-over-year.

First National Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,773 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $730,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of FELE. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Franklin Electric by 168.5% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Franklin Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $52,000. USA Financial Formulas lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 50.0% in the first quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 900 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 60.7% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the period. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in Franklin Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $127,000. Institutional investors own 79.98% of the company's stock.

Franklin Electric Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ FELE traded up $0.50 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $93.39. 358,681 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 208,638. The firm has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.45, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $78.87 and a 1-year high of $111.94.

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

Franklin Electric announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Franklin Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. Franklin Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.75%.

Insider Transactions at Franklin Electric

In other Franklin Electric news, Director David M. Wathen sold 25,402 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.22, for a total value of $2,164,758.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 49,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,175,780. This trade represents a 34.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David M. Wathen sold 24,000 shares of the company's 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 99,402 shares of company stock worth $8,529,908 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.72% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on FELE shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Franklin Electric from $111.00 to $94.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Franklin Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th.

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.