Norges Bank Acquires New Holdings in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 1,645,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,629,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd acquired a new stake in Flowserve in the fourth quarter valued at $897,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in shares of Flowserve during the fourth quarter worth about $23,614,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Flowserve by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 353,387 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $20,327,000 after acquiring an additional 63,686 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in Flowserve in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $23,007,000. Finally, Pier Capital LLC increased its position in Flowserve by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. Pier Capital LLC now owns 192,069 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,048,000 after purchasing an additional 39,282 shares during the period. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FLS. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of 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 research report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Flowserve from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Flowserve from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Baird R W upgraded Flowserve from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Flowserve from $69.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.60.

Flowserve Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FLS opened at $49.16 on Wednesday. Flowserve Co. has a twelve month low of $43.66 and a twelve month high of $65.08. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $55.93 and its 200-day moving average is $56.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.43.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Flowserve had a return on equity of 17.08% and a net margin of 6.20%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Flowserve Co. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.25%.

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.