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

Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of 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 short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KPP Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Flowserve by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,038 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $364,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Flowserve by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 37,906 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,962,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Flowserve by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $327,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 25,735 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,330,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Flowserve by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 8,564 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $442,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on FLS shares. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Flowserve from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $69.00 in a research note 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 on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Flowserve from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Flowserve from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price 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 and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.40.

Flowserve Price Performance

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

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

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

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

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.