Prudential Financial Inc. Trims Stake in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Prudential Financial Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,550,869 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 111,593 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 1.18% of Flowserve worth $89,206,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in Flowserve during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the third quarter worth about $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Flowserve by 64.2% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowserve during the third quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Flowserve during the third quarter worth approximately $42,000. 93.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FLS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Baird R W upgraded Flowserve from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Flowserve from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Flowserve from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $71.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Flowserve from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Flowserve presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.60.

Flowserve Price Performance

FLS opened at $52.48 on Tuesday. Flowserve Co. has a 52-week low of $43.66 and a 52-week high of $65.08. The company has a 50 day moving average of $57.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.41. The company has a market cap of $6.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Flowserve had a net margin of 6.20% and a return on equity of 17.08%. On average, analysts expect that Flowserve Co. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.25%.

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.