Running Oak Capital LLC Has $8.95 Million Stock Holdings in Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE)

Running Oak Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) by 17.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 92,593 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 14,074 shares during the period. Running Oak Capital LLC owned 0.20% of Franklin Electric worth $8,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FELE. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 35.3% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 11,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $998,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 4,548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $406,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Franklin Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Mariner LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Electric by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 5,307 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Franklin Electric

In other news, CEO Gregg C. Sengstack sold 10,366 shares of the firm’s 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Franklin Electric from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised Franklin Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Northcoast Research raised Franklin Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Franklin Electric from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.00.

Franklin Electric Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ FELE traded up $1.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $98.72. The company had a trading volume of 181,695 shares, compared to its average volume of 186,012. The company has a current ratio of 2.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has a one year low of $82.61 and a one year high of $107.89. The company has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s fifty day moving average is $102.34 and its 200-day moving average is $95.88.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.04). Franklin Electric had a net margin of 9.25% and a return on equity of 15.86%. The company had revenue of $460.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $477.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Franklin Electric Co., Inc. will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 1st. Franklin Electric’s payout ratio is 24.88%.

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.