Quadrature Capital Ltd Purchases New Position in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 10,673 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $440,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Flowserve in the 4th quarter valued at $59,261,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Flowserve in the 4th quarter valued at $22,321,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Flowserve by 270.4% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 636,509 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,314,000 after buying an additional 464,667 shares during the last quarter. Pantechnicon Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Flowserve in the 3rd quarter valued at about $17,976,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its position in Flowserve by 717.3% in the 4th quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 394,975 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $16,281,000 after buying an additional 346,651 shares during the last quarter. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flowserve

In other Flowserve news, CEO Robert Scott Rowe sold 42,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.98, for a total value of $2,112,604.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 407,243 shares in the company, valued at $20,354,005.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FLS shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $53.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Flowserve in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.55.

Flowserve Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FLS opened at $47.84 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $48.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.35. Flowserve Co. has a 52-week low of $35.23 and a 52-week high of $50.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.11. Flowserve had a net margin of 5.29% and a return on equity of 15.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. Flowserve’s revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Flowserve Co. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. Flowserve’s payout ratio is currently 47.46%.

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.