Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Acquires New Stake in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 144,840 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,970,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Flowserve by 332.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 269,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,725,000 after acquiring an additional 207,346 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Flowserve by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 48,645 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,936,000 after acquiring an additional 2,235 shares during the last quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Flowserve in the 4th quarter worth $6,031,000. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP acquired a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the 4th quarter worth about $866,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,745,000. 93.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FLS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Flowserve from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup raised their price objective on Flowserve from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Flowserve from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Mizuho raised their target price on Flowserve from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Flowserve from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Flowserve presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.25.

Flowserve Stock Performance

Shares of FLS opened at $47.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.07. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a PE ratio of 33.39, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.46. Flowserve Co. has a 1 year low of $32.05 and a 1 year high of $48.31.

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

Flowserve Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This is a boost from Flowserve’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. Flowserve’s payout ratio is presently 59.57%.

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.