Fifth Third Bancorp Grows Position in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 516.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,545 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 6,321 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Flowserve were worth $434,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLS. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Flowserve by 197.6% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 913,268 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,207,000 after purchasing an additional 606,416 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Flowserve by 34.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,664,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $86,055,000 after acquiring an additional 422,141 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 893,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,170,000 after acquiring an additional 120,396 shares during the last quarter. Concentric Capital Strategies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the 3rd quarter worth about $6,099,000. Finally, Roubaix Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Flowserve during the third quarter worth approximately $4,859,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on FLS. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Flowserve from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $57.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on Flowserve from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Flowserve in a research report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.50.

Flowserve Trading Up 2.5 %

NYSE:FLS opened at $62.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.44. Flowserve Co. has a 12-month low of $39.69 and a 12-month high of $65.08. The firm has a market cap of $8.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.18, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.42.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. Flowserve had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Flowserve Co. will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.58%.

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.