Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday.

FLS has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on Flowserve from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $55.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Flowserve from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $57.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Flowserve from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.40.

Flowserve Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Flowserve stock opened at $57.78 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.30. The firm has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a PE ratio of 28.60, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.41. Flowserve has a 1 year low of $39.21 and a 1 year high of $62.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.05). Flowserve had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 5.90%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Flowserve will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Flowserve’s payout ratio is 41.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowserve

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Flowserve by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,886,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $201,685,000 after acquiring an additional 37,132 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Flowserve by 31.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,748,885 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $132,221,000 after purchasing an additional 663,631 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Flowserve by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,678,601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $128,841,000 after purchasing an additional 121,873 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Flowserve by 155.2% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,624,919 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $126,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Flowserve by 1.7% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,603,528 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,577,000 after buying an additional 44,039 shares during the period. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by 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.