Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,990,000 shares, an increase of 59.2% from the March 31st total of 1,250,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,150,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FLS has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowserve from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Flowserve from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Flowserve from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Flowserve from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Flowserve from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.25.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowserve

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FLS. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Flowserve in the first quarter valued at $36,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Flowserve by 122.4% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 596 shares during the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Flowserve by 14,663.6% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,624 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its position in Flowserve by 153.0% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

Flowserve Stock Up 0.9 %

Flowserve stock opened at $46.76 on Friday. Flowserve has a fifty-two week low of $32.37 and a fifty-two week high of $48.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.88. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $44.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.27. The company has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a PE ratio of 33.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.46.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.07. Flowserve had a net margin of 4.32% and a return on equity of 14.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Flowserve will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowserve Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Flowserve’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Flowserve’s payout ratio is 59.57%.

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.