Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) Short Interest Update

Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,990,000 shares, a growth of 37.2% from the December 15th total of 2,180,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,210,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowserve

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Veracity Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Flowserve by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 14,043 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $808,000 after buying an additional 2,736 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Flowserve by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 42,050 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,419,000 after acquiring an additional 6,584 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Flowserve by 107.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 82,946 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,771,000 after acquiring an additional 42,908 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Flowserve during the fourth quarter worth about $255,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Flowserve by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 711 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. 93.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FLS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Flowserve in a report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. Mizuho upped their price objective on Flowserve from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Flowserve from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $57.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded 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 research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.10.

Flowserve Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FLS opened at $63.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.99. Flowserve has a one year low of $39.69 and a one year high of $63.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.49, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $59.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.47.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 5.90%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Flowserve will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Flowserve’s payout ratio is currently 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.