Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) Raised to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on FLS. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Flowserve from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup raised their target price on Flowserve from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Flowserve from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Flowserve from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Flowserve in a report on Friday, October 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.40.

Flowserve Price Performance

Flowserve stock opened at $58.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a PE ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $58.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.90. Flowserve has a one year low of $39.21 and a one year high of $62.32.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.05). Flowserve had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 5.90%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Flowserve will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowserve

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FLS. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Flowserve by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 70,645 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,909,000 after purchasing an additional 5,127 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the third quarter worth $29,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Flowserve by 35.9% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,686 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $914,000 after buying an additional 4,670 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Flowserve during the third quarter worth $227,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in Flowserve by 4.4% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 27,900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,442,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175 shares during the last quarter. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.