Brandes Investment Partners LP Grows Position in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its position in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 106,877 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 7,089 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Flowserve were worth $6,148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FLS. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 711 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the period. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FLS has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen raised 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. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Flowserve from $69.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Flowserve from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Flowserve from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.60.

Flowserve Price Performance

Shares of FLS opened at $49.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.89, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $58.36 and a 200-day moving average of $56.25. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $43.66 and a 52 week high of $65.08.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last released 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 company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Flowserve Co. will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. 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 1.71%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio 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.