Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 8,042 Shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Clearbridge Investments LLC decreased its holdings in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 1.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 822,978 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 8,042 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Flowserve were worth $39,585,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FLS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Flowserve by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,405,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $552,573,000 after buying an additional 144,704 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Flowserve by 31.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,748,885 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $132,221,000 after acquiring an additional 663,631 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Flowserve by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,678,601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $128,841,000 after acquiring an additional 121,873 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Flowserve by 155.2% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,624,919 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $126,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,559,489 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $123,112,000 after purchasing an additional 83,868 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

Flowserve Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:FLS opened at $52.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.92. Flowserve Co. has a 1 year low of $35.31 and a 1 year high of $53.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a PE ratio of 29.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.39.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. Flowserve had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 5.67%. Flowserve’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Flowserve Co. will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Flowserve from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Flowserve from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowserve from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Flowserve from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Flowserve in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Flowserve has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.88.

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.