Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 134,286 Shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 30.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 304,103 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 134,286 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Flowserve were worth $15,719,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Flowserve by 155.2% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,624,919 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $126,259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,596,429 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Flowserve by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,748,885 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $132,221,000 after purchasing an additional 663,631 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Flowserve by 197.6% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 913,268 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $47,207,000 after purchasing an additional 606,416 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Flowserve during the 2nd quarter worth about $23,911,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Flowserve by 34.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,664,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $86,055,000 after purchasing an additional 422,141 shares during the period. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Flowserve Price Performance

Shares of FLS stock opened at $57.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.99. Flowserve Co. has a fifty-two week low of $39.21 and a fifty-two week high of $62.32. The firm has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.41. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $58.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.20.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. Flowserve had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 5.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Flowserve Co. will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.58%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FLS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price target on Flowserve from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Flowserve from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $57.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Flowserve from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $55.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.40.

Flowserve Profile

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.