Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $64.40.

Several research firms have weighed in on FLS. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Flowserve in a research note on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Flowserve from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowserve from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 27th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Flowserve from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th.

Flowserve Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:FLS opened at $58.33 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a fifty day moving average of $59.48 and a 200 day moving average of $53.04. Flowserve has a 52 week low of $39.37 and a 52 week high of $62.32.

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

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowserve

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FLS. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Flowserve by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,886,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $201,685,000 after purchasing an additional 37,132 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc purchased a new position in Flowserve in the third quarter worth about $714,000. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Flowserve by 14.0% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 244,139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,619,000 after buying an additional 29,979 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Flowserve by 155.2% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,624,919 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $126,259,000 after buying an additional 1,596,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Interval Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 60.1% during the second quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 927,087 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $44,593,000 after buying an additional 348,107 shares during the last quarter. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.