Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Strong-Buy” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Thursday morning.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Flowserve in a research report on Friday, October 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Flowserve from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Flowserve from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Flowserve from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $57.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.40.

Flowserve Stock Up 1.2 %

Flowserve stock opened at $58.15 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Flowserve has a twelve month low of $39.21 and a twelve month high of $62.32. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.83.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $1.12 billion. Flowserve had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 5.90%. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Flowserve will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Flowserve’s payout ratio is currently 41.58%.

Institutional Trading of Flowserve

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 70,645 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,909,000 after buying an additional 5,127 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Flowserve in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in Flowserve by 35.9% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,686 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $914,000 after acquiring an additional 4,670 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the third quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in shares of Flowserve by 4.4% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 27,900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,442,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175 shares in the last quarter. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flowserve Company 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.