StockNews.com Downgrades Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) to Buy

StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Flowserve from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Flowserve from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Flowserve from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Flowserve from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Flowserve from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $48.25.

Flowserve Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FLS opened at $46.76 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $44.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.29. Flowserve has a 52-week low of $32.37 and a 52-week high of $48.31.

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

Flowserve Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowserve

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Flowserve in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Flowserve in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Flowserve by 122.4% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the period. TFO Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Flowserve by 14,663.6% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,624 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 1,613 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in Flowserve by 153.0% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 1,201 shares during the period. 93.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.