Diversified Trust Co Trims Holdings in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Diversified Trust Co lowered its holdings in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 24.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 45,714 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 14,623 shares during the quarter. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in Flowserve were worth $2,629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also 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 lifted its position in shares of 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 during the period. 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.

Flowserve Stock Performance

Shares of FLS stock opened at $59.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.99. Flowserve Co. has a one year low of $39.21 and a one year high of $62.32. The company’s 50-day moving average is $59.15 and its 200 day moving average is $52.85.

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

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Flowserve’s payout ratio is 41.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered Flowserve from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Flowserve from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Flowserve from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Flowserve from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $57.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.40.

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.