Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) Short Interest Up 37.2% in December

Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,990,000 shares, an increase of 37.2% from the December 15th total of 2,180,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,210,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FLS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Flowserve from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup dropped 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Flowserve from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Flowserve from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Flowserve currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.30.

Flowserve Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE FLS opened at $60.64 on Thursday. Flowserve has a 52 week low of $39.37 and a 52 week high of $62.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market capitalization of $7.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.41. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $59.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.29.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. Flowserve had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 17.10%. Flowserve’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Flowserve will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. Flowserve’s payout ratio is presently 41.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowserve

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in Flowserve by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,886,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $201,685,000 after purchasing an additional 37,132 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Flowserve by 31.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,748,885 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $132,221,000 after acquiring an additional 663,631 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Flowserve by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,678,601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $128,841,000 after acquiring an additional 121,873 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Flowserve by 155.2% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,624,919 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $126,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,603,528 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,577,000 after purchasing an additional 44,039 shares during the last quarter. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.