SG Americas Securities LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

SG Americas Securities LLC cut its stake in shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,571 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,196 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Franklin Electric were worth $2,181,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in Franklin Electric by 228.7% in the 2nd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 309 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Electric in the third quarter worth about $37,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new position in Franklin Electric in the first quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO purchased a new position in Franklin Electric in the third quarter valued at about $45,000. 79.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on FELE. StockNews.com cut Franklin Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 14th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Franklin Electric from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Franklin Electric has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

Franklin Electric Price Performance

Shares of FELE opened at $106.64 on Thursday. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $82.61 and a 52 week high of $107.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $4.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.95, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $99.77 and a 200-day moving average of $93.79.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $472.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.47 million. Franklin Electric had a return on equity of 16.67% and a net margin of 9.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.32 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 1st were paid a $0.25 dividend. This is an increase from Franklin Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 31st. Franklin Electric’s payout ratio is presently 24.33%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Gregg C. Sengstack sold 10,366 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 154,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,493,100.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.72% of the company’s stock.

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.