Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) Shares Sold by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,550,869 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 111,593 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Flowserve were worth $89,206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Flowserve by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 37,906 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,962,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Flowserve by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 38,134 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,193,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its holdings in Flowserve by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 61,565 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,541,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Flowserve by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $327,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Flowserve by 1.1% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FLS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $55.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Flowserve from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com lowered Flowserve from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Flowserve from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $69.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.60.

Flowserve Stock Performance

Shares of FLS opened at $52.48 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $57.41 and a 200-day moving average of $56.41. The company has a market cap of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.97. Flowserve Co. has a 1 year low of $43.66 and a 1 year high of $65.08.

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). Flowserve had a net margin of 6.20% and a return on equity of 17.08%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Flowserve Co. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.25%.

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.