William Blair Investment Management LLC Sells 2,984 Shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

William Blair Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 31.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,502 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,984 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Flowserve were worth $374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Flowserve by 46.6% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 184,864 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,556,000 after acquiring an additional 58,769 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Flowserve by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,432 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its position in shares of Flowserve by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 29,311 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 1,314 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 1.1% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 25,735 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,330,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 34.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,664,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $86,055,000 after purchasing an additional 422,141 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

Flowserve Price Performance

FLS stock opened at $51.36 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $6.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.43. 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 50 day simple moving average of $57.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.28. Flowserve Co. has a 1 year low of $43.66 and a 1 year high of $65.08.

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

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Flowserve’s payout ratio is 39.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.