Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Takes $23.61 Million Position in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 410,541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,614,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Flowserve by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,886,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $201,685,000 after purchasing an additional 37,132 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Flowserve in the third quarter valued at $714,000. Stifel Financial Corp grew 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 buying an additional 29,979 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Flowserve during the fourth quarter valued at $800,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Flowserve by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,807 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. 93.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flowserve Price Performance

NYSE FLS opened at $48.72 on Friday. Flowserve Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.66 and a fifty-two week high of $65.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $56.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.40. The firm has a market cap of $6.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.77, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Flowserve Co. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. Flowserve’s payout ratio is presently 39.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on Flowserve from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowserve from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Flowserve from $69.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Flowserve from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Flowserve currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.