Running Oak Capital LLC Buys 14,074 Shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

Running Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE - Free Report) by 17.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 92,593 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,074 shares during the period. Running Oak Capital LLC owned approximately 0.20% of Franklin Electric worth $8,949,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FELE. Robeco Schweiz AG raised its stake in Franklin Electric by 68.8% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 369,996 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $33,015,000 after acquiring an additional 150,748 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 103.1% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 207,876 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $18,549,000 after buying an additional 105,534 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Electric during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,676,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 230.0% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 52,108 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,650,000 after buying an additional 36,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 615,008 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $54,877,000 after buying an additional 36,114 shares in the last quarter. 79.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on FELE shares. Northcoast Research raised Franklin Electric from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $110.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. StockNews.com raised Franklin Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. DA Davidson increased their target price on Franklin Electric from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Franklin Electric from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $100.00.

Franklin Electric Price Performance

NASDAQ FELE traded up $1.12 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $98.72. The stock had a trading volume of 189,895 shares, compared to its average volume of 186,012. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $82.61 and a 52-week high of $107.89. The company has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 2.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.04). Franklin Electric had a net margin of 9.25% and a return on equity of 15.86%. The firm had revenue of $460.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $477.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 1st. Franklin Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Franklin Electric

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

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.