Trexquant Investment LP Buys 165,008 Shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Trexquant Investment LP raised its stake in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 168.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 262,690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 165,008 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Flowserve were worth $15,110,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FLS. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Flowserve by 4,790.0% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 489 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Diametric Capital LP increased its position in Flowserve by 37.8% during the 4th quarter. Diametric Capital LP now owns 10,429 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $600,000 after buying an additional 2,861 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,737 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $388,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Flowserve by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 71,353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,104,000 after acquiring an additional 708 shares during the period. Finally, Cannell & Spears LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flowserve in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,166,000. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on FLS shares. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Flowserve from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Flowserve from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Flowserve from $69.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Flowserve from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Flowserve from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Two investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.60.

Flowserve Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Flowserve stock opened at $49.16 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $55.93 and its 200 day moving average is $56.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.48 billion, a PE ratio of 22.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.43. Flowserve Co. has a 1 year low of $43.66 and a 1 year high of $65.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Flowserve Co. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.25%.

Flowserve 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.