Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) Declares $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 22nd, Zacks reports. Investors 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 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 1st.

Franklin Electric has increased its dividend payment by an average of 13.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 32 years. Franklin Electric has a dividend payout ratio of 21.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Trading Up 0.6 %

FELE stock opened at $102.05 on Tuesday. 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 12-month low of $82.61 and a 12-month high of $107.89. The stock has a market cap of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.83, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s 50-day moving average is $102.00 and its 200 day moving average is $95.33.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $472.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $490.47 million. Franklin Electric had a return on equity of 16.67% and a net margin of 9.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Franklin Electric will post 4.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gregg C. Sengstack sold 10,366 shares of Franklin Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were 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 owns 154,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,493,100.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FELE has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com cut Franklin Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, January 14th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Franklin Electric from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Northcoast Research raised shares of Franklin Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.00.

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.