Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) Declares $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 22nd, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the industrial products company on Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 1st.

Franklin Electric has raised its dividend payment by an average of 13.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 32 consecutive years. Franklin Electric has a payout ratio of 21.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Franklin Electric to earn $4.71 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.2%.

Franklin Electric Price Performance

Shares of FELE stock traded up $1.57 on Tuesday, reaching $103.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 166,597 shares, compared to its average volume of 178,640. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Franklin Electric has a 12-month low of $82.61 and a 12-month high of $107.89. The company has a market capitalization of $4.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.83, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.96. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $102.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.33.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.02). Franklin Electric had a net margin of 9.36% and a return on equity of 16.67%. The firm had revenue of $472.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $490.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Franklin Electric will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Franklin Electric

In other Franklin Electric news, CEO Gregg C. Sengstack sold 10,366 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.96, for a total value of $1,036,185.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 154,993 shares in the company, valued at $15,493,100.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on FELE. StockNews.com cut Franklin Electric from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, January 14th. Northcoast Research upgraded Franklin Electric from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $110.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Electric from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $100.00.

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.