Bailard Inc. Takes $365,000 Position in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Bailard Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 8,845 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $365,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Flowserve by 332.7% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 269,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,725,000 after purchasing an additional 207,346 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Flowserve by 4.8% during the third 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 period. Peregrine Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowserve in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,031,000. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP bought a new position in Flowserve in the fourth quarter worth approximately $866,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Flowserve during the 4th quarter worth $5,970,000. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Flowserve Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FLS opened at $46.76 on Monday. Flowserve Co. 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 company has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a PE ratio of 33.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.46. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.30.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Flowserve Co. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 59.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on FLS shares. Mizuho increased their price target on Flowserve from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Flowserve from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowserve from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Flowserve from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Flowserve presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.25.

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.