Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 679,748 Shares of TechnipFMC plc (NYSE:FTI)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of TechnipFMC plc (NYSE:FTI - Free Report) by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,639,244 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 679,748 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.86% of TechnipFMC worth $98,838,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTI. Oak Thistle LLC increased its holdings in shares of TechnipFMC by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 13,705 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of TechnipFMC by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,901 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TechnipFMC by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 11,223 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $294,000 after buying an additional 515 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its stake in TechnipFMC by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,392 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in TechnipFMC by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 26,963 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $702,000 after acquiring an additional 616 shares during the period. 96.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded TechnipFMC from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on TechnipFMC from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of TechnipFMC from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of TechnipFMC in a research report on Monday, November 18th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of TechnipFMC from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $32.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $34.69.

TechnipFMC Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE FTI traded down $0.20 on Monday, hitting $30.80. 3,221,177 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,991,079. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $28.52 and a 200-day moving average of $27.00. TechnipFMC plc has a 12 month low of $18.33 and a 12 month high of $32.64. The company has a market cap of $13.10 billion, a PE ratio of 20.26 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

TechnipFMC (NYSE:FTI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The oil and gas company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $2.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. TechnipFMC had a return on equity of 20.11% and a net margin of 7.63%. The firm's revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.21 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that TechnipFMC plc will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

TechnipFMC Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. TechnipFMC's payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

TechnipFMC declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the oil and gas company to repurchase up to 9.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

About TechnipFMC

TechnipFMC plc engages in the energy projects, technologies, and systems and services businesses in Europe, Central Asia, North America, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, and internationally. It operates through two segments: Subsea and Surface Technologies. The Subsea segment engages in the design, engineering, procurement, manufacturing, fabrication, installation, and life of field services for subsea systems, subsea field infrastructure, and subsea pipe systems used in oil and gas production and transportation.