Xponance Inc. Increases Stock Position in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

Xponance Inc. increased its position in shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) by 8.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,534 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 290 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Franklin Electric were worth $332,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Franklin Electric by 168.5% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Franklin Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. USA Financial Formulas lifted its holdings in Franklin Electric by 50.0% during the first quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in Franklin Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $127,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Franklin Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $134,000. 79.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Franklin Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David M. Wathen sold 25,402 shares of Franklin Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.22, for a total value of $2,164,758.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 49,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,175,780. The trade was a 34.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David M. Wathen sold 24,000 shares of Franklin Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.10, for a total transaction of $2,066,400.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,402 shares of company stock valued at $8,529,908 in the last quarter. 2.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Franklin Electric Price Performance

Franklin Electric stock opened at $90.86 on Friday. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $78.87 and a 12-month high of $111.94. The stock has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.79, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $88.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.21. 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 (NASDAQ:FELE) last announced 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 net margin of 8.85% and a return on equity of 14.08%. The company had revenue of $455.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $471.21 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. Franklin Electric’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th were paid a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. Franklin Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.75%.

Franklin Electric declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Friday, June 13th that allows the company to repurchase 1,200,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Franklin Electric

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.