Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) Upgraded at Baird R W

Baird R W upgraded shares of Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on FLS. TD Cowen raised their price target on Flowserve from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho raised their price target on Flowserve from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Flowserve from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Flowserve from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.60.

Flowserve Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE FLS opened at $50.38 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Flowserve has a 12-month low of $43.66 and a 12-month high of $65.08. The company has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.31.

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

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.25%.

Institutional Trading of Flowserve

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Flowserve by 0.6% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 37,906 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,962,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Flowserve by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 38,134 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,193,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. grew its holdings in Flowserve by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 26,553 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,527,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its holdings in Flowserve by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 61,565 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,541,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Flowserve by 4.1% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $327,000 after buying an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.