StockNews.com Downgrades Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) to Buy

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

FELE has been the subject of several other reports. 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. DA Davidson increased their price target on Franklin Electric from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Northcoast Research raised Franklin Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.00.

Franklin Electric Stock Up 0.5 %

FELE opened at $101.24 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $102.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $96.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.85 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.99. Franklin Electric has a 12 month low of $82.61 and a 12 month high of $107.89.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $460.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $477.64 million. Franklin Electric had a return on equity of 15.86% and a net margin of 9.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Franklin Electric will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Franklin Electric

In related news, CEO Gregg C. Sengstack sold 10,366 shares of Franklin Electric stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 154,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,493,100.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FELE. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Franklin Electric by 37.7% in the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 26,778 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,588,000 after acquiring an additional 7,325 shares in the last quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Franklin Electric by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 92,593 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,949,000 after buying an additional 14,074 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Electric by 23.2% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 24,332 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,171,000 after buying an additional 4,582 shares in the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Electric during the third quarter valued at $767,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Franklin Electric by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,656,427 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $415,493,000 after buying an additional 17,092 shares during the period. 79.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.