Norges Bank Acquires Shares of 1,645,143 Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,645,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,629,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.25% of Flowserve as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in Flowserve during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Flowserve during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Flowserve by 64.2% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Flowserve by 185.9% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the period. Finally, Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. acquired a new position in Flowserve in the 4th quarter valued at $63,000. Institutional investors own 93.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FLS shares. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Flowserve from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Flowserve from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowserve from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird raised Flowserve from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $71.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Flowserve from $69.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Flowserve has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.60.

Flowserve Price Performance

Shares of FLS stock opened at $49.16 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.59. The company has a market cap of $6.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Flowserve Co. has a twelve month low of $43.66 and a twelve month high of $65.08.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Flowserve had a net margin of 6.20% and a return on equity of 17.08%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Flowserve Co. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.25%.

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.