Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Buy

StockNews.com cut shares of Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Flowserve from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Flowserve from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Flowserve from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Flowserve from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Flowserve from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $48.25.

Flowserve Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE FLS opened at $45.63 on Thursday. Flowserve has a 1 year low of $32.05 and a 1 year high of $48.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.88 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $44.43 and a 200 day moving average of $40.93. The stock has a market cap of $5.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.46.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Flowserve had a return on equity of 14.44% and a net margin of 4.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Flowserve will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. This is a positive change from Flowserve’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.57%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowserve

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moody National Bank Trust Division grew its holdings in Flowserve by 2.8% in the first quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 9,495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $434,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC grew its holdings in Flowserve by 1.8% in the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 14,611 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $581,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Flowserve by 3.1% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Flowserve by 17.1% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,073 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. 93.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.