Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $68.60.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FLS. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $55.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Flowserve from $69.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Flowserve from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Flowserve from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Flowserve from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th.

Flowserve Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of FLS opened at $50.43 on Friday. Flowserve has a fifty-two week low of $43.66 and a fifty-two week high of $65.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $56.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.97. The company has a market capitalization of $6.64 billion, a PE ratio of 23.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.43.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. Flowserve had a return on equity of 17.08% and a net margin of 6.20%. As a group, analysts forecast that Flowserve will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.25%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowserve

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLS. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Flowserve by 1.1% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 25,735 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,330,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Flowserve by 71.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 58,587 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,028,000 after purchasing an additional 24,460 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Flowserve by 89.5% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Flowserve by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 893,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,170,000 after buying an additional 120,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP grew its position in shares of Flowserve by 1,671.2% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 42,509 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,197,000 after buying an additional 40,109 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.