Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on FLS. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Flowserve from $77.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Flowserve from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Flowserve from $69.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Flowserve from $72.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Flowserve from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $71.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Flowserve presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $64.11.

Flowserve Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE:FLS opened at $47.54 on Wednesday. Flowserve has a twelve month low of $37.34 and a twelve month high of $65.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50 day moving average of $46.80 and a 200-day moving average of $55.03.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Flowserve had a return on equity of 17.08% and a net margin of 6.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Flowserve will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.25%.

Institutional Trading of Flowserve

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Flowserve by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,477,208 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $775,209,000 after buying an additional 101,668 shares during the period. FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of Flowserve by 71.7% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,255,059 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $302,271,000 after acquiring an additional 2,193,904 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,925,459 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $168,272,000 after acquiring an additional 258,361 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Flowserve by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,368,082 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $136,213,000 after purchasing an additional 38,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Flowserve by 52.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,068,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $118,953,000 after purchasing an additional 714,063 shares in the last quarter. 93.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Flowserve

Flowserve Corporation designs, manufactures, distributes, and services industrial flow management equipment in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through Flowserve Pump Division (FPD) and Flow Control Division (FCD) segments. The FPD segment offers custom and pre-configured pumps and pump systems, mechanical seals, auxiliary systems, replacement parts, upgrades, and related aftermarket services; and equipment services, including installation and commissioning services, seal systems spare parts, repairs, advanced diagnostics, re-rate and upgrade solutions, retrofit programs, and machining and asset management solutions, as well as manufactures a gas-lubricated mechanical seal for use in high-speed compressors for gas pipelines and in the oil and gas production and process markets.