Vestcor Inc Lowers Stock Holdings in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Vestcor Inc trimmed its holdings in shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 70.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,102 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 9,716 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Flowserve were worth $236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,886,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $201,685,000 after purchasing an additional 37,132 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 14.0% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 244,139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,619,000 after purchasing an additional 29,979 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in Flowserve by 130.3% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 109,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,638,000 after acquiring an additional 61,710 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Flowserve in the 4th quarter worth approximately $800,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Flowserve by 34.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,664,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $86,055,000 after acquiring an additional 422,141 shares during the last quarter. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flowserve Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of FLS stock opened at $49.90 on Wednesday. Flowserve Co. has a 1 year low of $43.66 and a 1 year high of $65.08. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $58.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market cap of $6.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.32, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.43.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.07). Flowserve had a net margin of 6.20% and a return on equity of 17.08%. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Flowserve Co. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Flowserve’s payout ratio is 39.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on FLS shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Flowserve from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $71.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowserve from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.60.

Flowserve Company 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.