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. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date 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 annually for the last 32 consecutive years. Franklin Electric has a payout ratio of 21.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 0.6 %

FELE stock opened at $102.05 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.83, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 2.97. Franklin Electric has a one year low of $82.61 and a one year high of $107.89. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $102.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.33.

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.02). The firm 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 was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Franklin Electric will post 4.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Gregg C. Sengstack sold 10,366 shares of Franklin Electric stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 154,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,493,100.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on FELE shares. 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 note on Friday, February 23rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of 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 cut shares of Franklin Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.