Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) Earns Buy Rating from Mizuho

Mizuho reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has a $53.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $50.00.

FLS has been the subject of several other reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on Flowserve from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Flowserve from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Flowserve from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Flowserve from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowserve from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Flowserve has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $51.55.

Flowserve Stock Performance

Shares of FLS opened at $47.52 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Flowserve has a 52-week low of $32.49 and a 52-week high of $49.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $45.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.57. The company has a market capitalization of $6.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.42.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. Flowserve had a net margin of 5.29% and a return on equity of 15.50%. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Flowserve will post 2.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. This is a positive change from Flowserve’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Flowserve’s payout ratio is 47.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowserve

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLS. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Flowserve during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Flowserve in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Flowserve by 122.4% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Flowserve by 14,663.6% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,624 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,613 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in Flowserve by 153.0% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. 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.