Arizona State Retirement System Sells 664 Shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Arizona State Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,678 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 664 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Flowserve were worth $1,512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Flowserve during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. First Manhattan CO. LLC. boosted its position in shares of Flowserve by 682.6% in the first quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Flowserve in the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Flowserve by 79.5% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,581 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. Finally, Gyon Technologies Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Flowserve in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Institutional investors own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

Flowserve Stock Performance

Flowserve stock opened at $46.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.88 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $44.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.76. Flowserve Co. has a 52-week low of $32.05 and a 52-week high of $48.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.46.

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

Flowserve Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FLS has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on Flowserve from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Flowserve from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded Flowserve from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup upped their target price on Flowserve from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Flowserve from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Flowserve presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.75.

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.