Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

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

Franklin Electric has increased its dividend by an average of 13.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 32 years. Franklin Electric has a payout ratio of 21.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Performance

Shares of FELE opened at $103.24 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $102.41 and a 200-day moving average of $95.80. Franklin Electric has a one year low of $82.61 and a one year high of $107.89. The company has a market cap of $4.75 billion, a PE ratio of 25.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

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

Insider Activity

In related 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 directly owns 154,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,493,100.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FELE. Northcoast Research raised shares of Franklin Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Franklin Electric from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Franklin Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

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.