Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 22.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Flowserve were worth $253,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FLS. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 197.6% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 913,268 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $47,207,000 after purchasing an additional 606,416 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 34.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,664,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $86,055,000 after purchasing an additional 422,141 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Flowserve in the fourth quarter valued at about $14,546,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 66.0% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 555,115 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,930,000 after purchasing an additional 220,805 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 745,404 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,876,000 after purchasing an additional 165,449 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on FLS shares. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Flowserve from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Flowserve from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Flowserve from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowserve from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Flowserve from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Flowserve has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.60.

Flowserve Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of FLS opened at $49.00 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.45 billion, a PE ratio of 22.89, a P/E/G 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.97. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.30.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last issued 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 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%. Analysts forecast that Flowserve Co. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

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