Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) Trading 2.5% Higher

Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)’s share price shot up 2.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $53.54 and last traded at $53.43. 186,890 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 1,042,203 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.14.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FLS has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Flowserve from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Flowserve from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Flowserve in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Flowserve from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.88.

Flowserve Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $6.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.39. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.00.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. Flowserve had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 5.67%. Flowserve’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Flowserve Co. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Flowserve’s payout ratio is currently 47.46%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Flowserve by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,405,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $552,573,000 after purchasing an additional 144,704 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Flowserve by 31.8% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,748,885 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $132,221,000 after buying an additional 663,631 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Flowserve by 4.8% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,678,601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $128,841,000 after buying an additional 121,873 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,596,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,559,489 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $123,112,000 after acquiring an additional 83,868 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.