Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

FLS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Flowserve from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Flowserve currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $48.25.

Flowserve Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Flowserve stock opened at $45.63 on Thursday. Flowserve has a 52-week low of $32.05 and a 52-week high of $48.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.93. The firm has a market cap of $5.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.46.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.07. Flowserve had a net margin of 4.32% and a return on equity of 14.44%. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Flowserve will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowserve Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Flowserve’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Flowserve’s payout ratio is currently 59.57%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowserve

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. UBS Group AG increased its position in Flowserve by 332.7% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 269,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,725,000 after purchasing an additional 207,346 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in Flowserve by 4.8% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 48,645 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,936,000 after purchasing an additional 2,235 shares during the last quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Flowserve during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,031,000. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP acquired a new position in Flowserve during the fourth quarter worth approximately $866,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new position in Flowserve during the third quarter worth approximately $29,745,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

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.