Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Acquires 2,993 Shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE - Free Report) by 11.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,301 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,993 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.06% of Franklin Electric worth $2,758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Franklin Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new position in Franklin Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Franklin Electric by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 497 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Franklin Electric by 189.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 642 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 150.2% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 833 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 79.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Franklin Electric from $111.00 to $94.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Franklin Electric from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st.

Insider Activity

In other Franklin Electric news, insider Delancey W. Davis sold 961 shares of Franklin Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.14, for a total value of $99,117.54. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,701 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $794,281.14. The trade was a 11.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Franklin Electric Trading Down 0.8 %

Franklin Electric stock traded down $0.74 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $86.93. The stock had a trading volume of 163,453 shares, compared to its average volume of 203,304. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a PE ratio of 22.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.08. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $78.87 and a 12 month high of $111.94.

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 14.46% and a net margin of 8.92%. The business had revenue of $455.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $471.21 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 8th. Franklin Electric's payout ratio is 27.75%.

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.