Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) Short Interest Down 12.7% in November

Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 574,600 shares, a drop of 12.7% from the November 15th total of 658,300 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 178,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Franklin Electric news, insider Gregg C. Sengstack sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.22, for a total transaction of $150,330.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $905,187.04. This trade represents a 14.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Franklin Electric

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 40.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 24,818 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,532,000 after acquiring an additional 7,092 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Franklin Electric by 357.6% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 9,230 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $889,000 after buying an additional 7,213 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Franklin Electric by 420.9% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 11,001 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,153,000 after buying an additional 8,889 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Franklin Electric by 55.7% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDT Partners LLC raised its stake in Franklin Electric by 241.8% in the third quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 12,029 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,261,000 after buying an additional 8,510 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Franklin Electric Trading Down 1.0 %

FELE traded down $1.10 on Tuesday, hitting $103.99. The company had a trading volume of 144,279 shares, compared to its average volume of 175,451. The company has a market cap of $4.75 billion, a PE ratio of 26.27, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.98. Franklin Electric has a 12-month low of $91.45 and a 12-month high of $111.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.59.

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

Franklin Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Franklin Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.32%.

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.