Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS)

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,409,828 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 67,380 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.26% of Flowserve worth $654,936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Flowserve by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,925,459 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $168,272,000 after purchasing an additional 258,361 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Flowserve by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,368,082 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $136,213,000 after purchasing an additional 38,340 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Flowserve by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,954,365 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $95,451,000 after purchasing an additional 122,161 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Flowserve by 307.1% in the 4th quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,888,917 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $108,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,424,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Flowserve by 57.7% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,440,518 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $82,859,000 after buying an additional 527,250 shares during the period. 93.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Flowserve

In other news, insider Kirk Wilson sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total transaction of $532,200.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 37,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,979,571.12. This trade represents a 21.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on FLS shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Flowserve from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Flowserve from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Flowserve from $71.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Flowserve from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Flowserve from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Flowserve has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.78.

Flowserve Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FLS opened at $53.93 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.40, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.28. Flowserve Corporation has a 12 month low of $37.34 and a 12 month high of $65.08. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 1.50.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. Flowserve had a net margin of 6.28% and a return on equity of 18.25%. Analysts expect that Flowserve Corporation will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 27th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.01%.

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.