Franklin Electric Co., Inc. $FELE Stock Sold by King Luther Capital Management Corp

King Luther Capital Management Corp trimmed its position in shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) by 1.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 980,243 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 14,934 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Franklin Electric were worth $93,996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Electric during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,694,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in Franklin Electric by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 256,624 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $23,653,000 after purchasing an additional 10,858 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Franklin Electric by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 224,135 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,659,000 after purchasing an additional 10,325 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its stake in Franklin Electric by 687.1% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 32,666 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,501,000 after purchasing an additional 28,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its holdings in Franklin Electric by 18.4% during the third quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 332,387 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,873,000 after purchasing an additional 51,541 shares during the period. 79.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FELE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised Franklin Electric from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut Franklin Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 2nd. Robert W. Baird set a $130.00 price objective on Franklin Electric in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. DA Davidson upgraded Franklin Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Monday, November 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Franklin Electric from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.50.

Franklin Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ FELE opened at $98.88 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 2.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $97.86 and a 200-day moving average of $100.10. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $89.54 and a 52-week high of $115.82.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $633.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $617.19 million. Franklin Electric had a net margin of 8.83% and a return on equity of 15.45%. Franklin Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.30 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 5th. Franklin Electric’s payout ratio is currently 25.17%.

Franklin Electric Profile

Franklin Electric is a global manufacturer of systems and components used to move water and fuel. Founded in 1944 and headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the company serves residential, commercial, agricultural, municipal and industrial markets. Its water-related products include submersible motors and pumps, groundwater and wastewater systems, water treatment equipment, and controls and drives. Franklin Electric also supplies pumping and related equipment for applications such as pressure boosting, irrigation and dewatering.