Clearbridge Investments LLC Boosts Stake in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 792,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,047 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Flowserve were worth $32,686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its position in Flowserve by 0.5% during the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 57,444 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,285,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in Flowserve by 6.0% during the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 7,240 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Flowserve by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 52,148 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,150,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in Flowserve by 1.4% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 37,342 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 164,332 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,774,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the period. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FLS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Flowserve from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Flowserve from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Flowserve from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $53.00 price target (up from $50.00) on shares of Flowserve in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Flowserve from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Flowserve has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Scott Rowe sold 42,269 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.98, for a total transaction of $2,112,604.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 407,243 shares in the company, valued at $20,354,005.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Flowserve Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE FLS opened at $48.83 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion, a PE ratio of 27.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.42. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.78. Flowserve Co. has a 12-month low of $32.49 and a 12-month high of $50.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Flowserve had a net margin of 5.29% and a return on equity of 15.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Flowserve Co. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.46%.

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.