Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com cut shares of Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Flowserve from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $69.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Flowserve from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Flowserve from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Flowserve currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.60.

Flowserve Trading Down 2.6 %

FLS stock opened at $57.47 on Thursday. Flowserve has a twelve month low of $41.60 and a twelve month high of $65.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.70.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.07). Flowserve had a return on equity of 17.11% and a net margin of 6.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Flowserve will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.25%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowserve

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FIL Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 71.7% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,255,059 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $302,271,000 after buying an additional 2,193,904 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Flowserve during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $94,629,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Flowserve by 307.1% in the fourth quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,888,917 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $108,651,000 after acquiring an additional 1,424,948 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Flowserve by 52.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,068,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $118,953,000 after purchasing an additional 714,063 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Flowserve by 197.6% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 913,268 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,207,000 after purchasing an additional 606,416 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

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.