California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 13,114 Shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 222,346 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 13,114 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Flowserve were worth $12,789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $94,629,000. Varenne Capital Partners acquired a new position in Flowserve during the 4th quarter worth $26,216,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new stake in shares of Flowserve in the 4th quarter valued at $23,614,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the fourth quarter worth $23,007,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the fourth quarter worth $14,546,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

Flowserve Trading Down 8.1 %

Shares of NYSE:FLS opened at $40.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.72, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.22. Flowserve Co. has a 12 month low of $38.23 and a 12 month high of $65.08. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. Flowserve had a net margin of 6.20% and a return on equity of 17.08%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Flowserve Co. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FLS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Flowserve from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Flowserve from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Flowserve from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $71.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Flowserve from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.60.

Flowserve 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.