William Blair Investment Management LLC Cuts Stake in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

William Blair Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) by 10.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,824 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,266 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Flowserve were worth $494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Flowserve in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,261,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Flowserve in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $22,321,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Flowserve by 717.3% in the fourth quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 394,975 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $16,281,000 after buying an additional 346,651 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Flowserve by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,003,699 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $82,595,000 after acquiring an additional 157,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Flowserve in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,384,000. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Flowserve

In related news, CEO Robert Scott Rowe sold 42,269 shares of Flowserve stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.98, for a total transaction of $2,112,604.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 407,243 shares in the company, valued at $20,354,005.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Flowserve Stock Performance

FLS stock traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $51.19. The company had a trading volume of 994,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,060,168. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.42. Flowserve Co. has a one year low of $35.31 and a one year high of $51.67. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.30.

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

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FLS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $53.00 price objective (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Flowserve in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Flowserve from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Flowserve from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Flowserve from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Flowserve from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.55.

Flowserve 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.