StockNews.com Downgrades Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) to Buy

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on FLS. Citigroup increased their price objective on Flowserve from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Flowserve from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Flowserve from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Flowserve from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Flowserve from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.25.

Flowserve Price Performance

Flowserve stock opened at $45.81 on Thursday. Flowserve has a 12 month low of $32.05 and a 12 month high of $48.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.88 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a PE ratio of 32.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.46.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.07. Flowserve had a return on equity of 14.44% and a net margin of 4.32%. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Flowserve will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Flowserve

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FLS. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the first quarter valued at $208,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Flowserve by 70.7% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 113,597 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,078,000 after acquiring an additional 47,032 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Flowserve by 15.1% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 14,896 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $535,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of Flowserve by 11.0% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 8,139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Flowserve by 3.2% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 159,979 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,667,000 after acquiring an additional 4,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

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.