Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

A number of other analysts have also commented on FLS. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Flowserve from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Flowserve in a report on Saturday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Flowserve from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Flowserve from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $65.78.

Flowserve Price Performance

Flowserve stock opened at $52.78 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.88, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.27. Flowserve has a 52-week low of $37.34 and a 52-week high of $65.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $54.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.60.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.13. Flowserve had a net margin of 6.28% and a return on equity of 18.25%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Flowserve will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 26th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.01%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Kirk Wilson sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total value of $532,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 37,196 shares in the company, valued at $1,979,571.12. This represents a 21.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowserve

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Flowserve by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 302,275 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,763,000 after buying an additional 1,103 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Flowserve by 4.8% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,676 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Flowserve by 26.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,288 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $112,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in Flowserve during the first quarter worth $216,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Flowserve by 453.3% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 170,808 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,402,000 after purchasing an additional 139,939 shares during the last quarter. 93.93% of the stock is owned by 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.