MQS Management LLC Sells 3,138 Shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

MQS Management LLC lowered its position in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 35.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,729 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,138 shares during the quarter. MQS Management LLC’s holdings in Flowserve were worth $262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Natixis raised its position in shares of Flowserve by 964.3% in the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 9,951 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 9,016 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 1.6% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 86,629 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,957,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of Flowserve by 541.1% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 415,732 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,616,000 after buying an additional 350,889 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Flowserve by 4.8% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 831,020 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $37,961,000 after acquiring an additional 38,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Flowserve by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 6,266 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Flowserve

In other news, CEO Robert Scott Rowe sold 42,269 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.98, for a total transaction of $2,112,604.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 407,243 shares in the company, valued at $20,354,005.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Flowserve Trading Up 1.4 %

Flowserve stock traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $50.67. The stock had a trading volume of 49,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,041,895. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.65. Flowserve Co. has a twelve month low of $35.31 and a twelve month high of $52.06. The firm has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.24, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.88 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. Flowserve had a return on equity of 15.50% and a net margin of 5.29%. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Flowserve Co. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on FLS. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Flowserve from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowserve from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Flowserve from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Flowserve from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Flowserve from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Flowserve presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.82.

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.