Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,405,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 144,704 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.22% of Flowserve worth $552,573,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FLS. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in Flowserve by 0.5% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 57,444 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,285,000 after buying an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 7,240 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Flowserve by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 52,148 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,150,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in shares of Flowserve by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 164,332 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,774,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Flowserve by 122.4% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FLS. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $53.00 target price (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Flowserve in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Flowserve from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Flowserve from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on Flowserve from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Flowserve from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Flowserve presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Flowserve Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE FLS opened at $48.61 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.40 billion, a PE ratio of 27.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Flowserve Co. has a 12-month low of $35.31 and a 12-month high of $50.49. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.42.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. Flowserve’s revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Flowserve Co. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.46%.

Flowserve 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.