Alliancebernstein L.P. Cuts Stake in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lowered its stake in shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 190,937 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 14,731 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.15% of Flowserve worth $10,983,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. 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. increased its stake in shares of Flowserve by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 711 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Flowserve by 185.9% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares in the last quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Flowserve by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,807 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on FLS shares. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Flowserve from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $71.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $69.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Flowserve from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Flowserve presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.60.

Flowserve Stock Performance

Shares of FLS stock opened at $44.54 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $52.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.97. Flowserve Co. has a one year low of $37.34 and a one year high of $65.08. The firm has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.22.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last released its earnings results 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). 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Flowserve Co. will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.