Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) Short Interest Down 5.5% in December

Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) saw a large decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 589,900 shares, a decline of 5.5% from the December 15th total of 624,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 169,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Franklin Electric

In other Franklin Electric news, insider Gregg C. Sengstack sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.22, for a total transaction of $150,330.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $905,187.04. The trade was a 14.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Franklin Electric by 2.0% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,030,238 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $212,810,000 after purchasing an additional 40,248 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in Franklin Electric by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,563,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $150,560,000 after buying an additional 39,478 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Franklin Electric by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,004,057 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $105,264,000 after buying an additional 9,170 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its holdings in Franklin Electric by 0.6% in the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 659,057 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $69,082,000 after acquiring an additional 3,847 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in Franklin Electric by 19.6% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 387,058 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $40,571,000 after acquiring an additional 63,436 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Franklin Electric from $107.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th.

Franklin Electric Stock Up 0.8 %

Franklin Electric stock opened at $98.89 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $102.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 2.40. Franklin Electric has a 52-week low of $91.67 and a 52-week high of $111.94. The firm has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.04, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.00.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $531.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $551.08 million. Franklin Electric had a return on equity of 15.03% and a net margin of 9.22%. Franklin Electric’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Franklin Electric will post 3.81 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. Franklin Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.32%.

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.