Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (FELE) To Go Ex-Dividend on May 1st

Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 22nd, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the industrial products company on Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 1st.

Franklin Electric has raised its dividend by an average of 13.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 32 consecutive years. Franklin Electric has a dividend payout ratio of 21.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Franklin Electric to earn $4.71 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.2%.

Franklin Electric Stock Up 1.5 %

FELE stock opened at $103.62 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $102.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $95.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Franklin Electric has a 1-year low of $82.61 and a 1-year high of $107.89. The stock has a market cap of $4.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.96.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $472.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $490.47 million. Franklin Electric had a return on equity of 16.67% and a net margin of 9.36%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. Analysts expect that Franklin Electric will post 4.32 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on FELE. Northcoast Research upgraded Franklin Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Franklin Electric from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Franklin Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

Insider Activity at Franklin Electric

In related news, CEO Gregg C. Sengstack sold 10,366 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.96, for a total transaction of $1,036,185.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 154,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,493,100.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.