Short Interest in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) Declines By 6.0%

Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,680,000 shares, a drop of 6.0% from the May 15th total of 2,850,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,140,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on FLS shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Flowserve from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Flowserve from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Flowserve from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Flowserve from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Flowserve from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.55.

Flowserve Stock Performance

Shares of FLS stock opened at $47.86 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.30 billion, a PE ratio of 27.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.44. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Flowserve has a 12 month low of $35.23 and a 12 month high of $50.49.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Flowserve had a net margin of 5.29% and a return on equity of 15.50%. Flowserve’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. Analysts forecast that Flowserve will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Scott Rowe sold 42,269 shares of Flowserve stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.98, for a total transaction of $2,112,604.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 407,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,354,005.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Flowserve

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowserve by 25.5% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 32,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,473,000 after acquiring an additional 6,562 shares in the last quarter. Interval Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Flowserve by 158.7% in the 1st quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 578,980 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,448,000 after acquiring an additional 355,140 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Flowserve by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 10,498 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $480,000 after acquiring an additional 1,080 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Flowserve in the 1st quarter worth $41,413,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of Flowserve by 49.4% in the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 15,944 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $728,000 after acquiring an additional 5,271 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.