Short Interest in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) Rises By 50.3%

Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) saw a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,180,000 shares, a growth of 50.3% from the November 30th total of 1,450,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Flowserve by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,886,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $201,685,000 after purchasing an additional 37,132 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased 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 during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in Flowserve by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 244,139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,619,000 after buying an additional 29,979 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc purchased a new stake in Flowserve during the 3rd quarter valued at $714,000. Finally, Interval Partners LP grew its holdings in Flowserve by 60.1% in the 2nd quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 927,087 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $44,593,000 after acquiring an additional 348,107 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

Flowserve Stock Down 1.2 %

FLS opened at $57.78 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.60, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company’s 50-day moving average is $58.47 and its 200 day moving average is $52.33. Flowserve has a fifty-two week low of $39.21 and a fifty-two week high of $62.32.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.05). Flowserve had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Flowserve will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on FLS shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Flowserve from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Flowserve from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Flowserve from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $57.00 to $69.00 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup increased their price target on Flowserve from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Flowserve in a report on Friday, October 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.40.

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.