First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Makes New Investment in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,212 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of FELE. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Franklin Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Franklin Electric in the third quarter valued at about $37,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Franklin Electric by 35.3% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Franklin Electric by 51.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,094 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc bought a new position in shares of Franklin Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $200,000. 79.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Franklin Electric news, CEO Gregg C. Sengstack sold 10,366 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were 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 directly owns 154,993 shares in the company, valued at $15,493,100.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 2.72% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Electric Trading Up 0.5 %

FELE stock opened at $101.24 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 2.85. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $82.61 and a 52 week high of $107.89. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $102.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.35.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $460.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $477.64 million. Franklin Electric had a return on equity of 15.86% and a net margin of 9.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 1st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. Franklin Electric’s payout ratio is 24.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on FELE shares. Northcoast Research raised 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 report on Friday, February 23rd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Franklin Electric from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Franklin Electric from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Franklin Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

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.