Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) Stock Bumped Down to “Hold” by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Franklin Electric from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird set a $130.00 price objective on Franklin Electric in a report on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Franklin Electric in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.50.

Franklin Electric Stock Up 5.2%

Shares of Franklin Electric stock opened at $100.30 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $98.34 and a 200-day moving average of $100.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 22.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.03. Franklin Electric has a 1-year low of $89.54 and a 1-year high of $115.82.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.10. Franklin Electric had a return on equity of 15.45% and a net margin of 8.83%. The business had revenue of $633.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $617.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Franklin Electric will post 4.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 5th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Franklin Electric’s payout ratio is presently 25.17%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Franklin Electric

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in Franklin Electric by 28.2% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 586 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in Franklin Electric by 0.8% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 20,707 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,909,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Franklin Electric by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Franklin Electric by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 75,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,986,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Franklin Electric by 66.7% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 555 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.98% of the company’s stock.

About Franklin Electric

Franklin Electric Co, Inc (NASDAQ: FELE) designs, manufactures and distributes systems and components used to move, manage and control water and other fluids. The company serves residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial and municipal customers through products such as submersible pumps, motors, pumping systems, drives, controls, monitoring equipment and water-treatment solutions.

Its Water Systems business provides equipment for groundwater and surface-water applications, including well pumps, pressure systems, wastewater and dewatering products, and related controls and accessories.