Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Holdings in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 503,775 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 10,580 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.10% of Franklin Electric worth $49,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FELE. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Franklin Electric by 15.6% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 765 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 15.6% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,741 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,908,000 after purchasing an additional 3,744 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 1.6% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,499,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 19.6% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 387,058 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $40,571,000 after purchasing an additional 63,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chesapeake Capital Corp IL raised its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 79.8% in the third quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL now owns 4,610 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 2,046 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.98% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Electric Stock Down 1.5 %

FELE stock opened at $98.23 on Friday. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $91.67 and a 1-year high of $111.94. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $99.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $101.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.98.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.03. Franklin Electric had a return on equity of 14.46% and a net margin of 8.92%. The firm had revenue of $485.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $465.87 million. Equities analysts forecast that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were issued a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. This is a positive change from Franklin Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Franklin Electric’s payout ratio is presently 27.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Delancey W. Davis sold 961 shares of Franklin Electric stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.14, for a total value of $99,117.54. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,701 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $794,281.14. The trade was a 11.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Franklin Electric 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.