KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Acquires New Holdings in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 26,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,546,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Flowserve by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,886,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $201,685,000 after acquiring an additional 37,132 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc purchased a new position in Flowserve in the third quarter worth $714,000. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Flowserve by 14.0% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 244,139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,619,000 after purchasing an additional 29,979 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the 4th quarter valued at $800,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowserve by 19.1% in the 4th 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. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho increased their price target on Flowserve from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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 report on Monday, March 17th. Baird R W raised shares of Flowserve from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Flowserve from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.60.

Flowserve Price Performance

NYSE:FLS opened at $48.72 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $56.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.40. The firm has a market cap of $6.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.77, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.43. 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 $43.66 and a one year high of $65.08.

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

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. 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.