BNP Paribas Financial Markets Grows Stake in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS - Free Report) by 136.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 248,327 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 143,443 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.19% of Flowserve worth $14,284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FLS. New York Life Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Flowserve in the 4th quarter valued at $800,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Flowserve by 25.9% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 110,994 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $6,384,000 after purchasing an additional 22,850 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Flowserve in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $422,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Flowserve by 103.0% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 20,806 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,197,000 after acquiring an additional 10,557 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 290 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.93% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on FLS. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Flowserve from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup reduced their price target on Flowserve from $72.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Baird R W upgraded Flowserve from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Flowserve from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Flowserve from $71.00 to $70.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Flowserve presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $64.11.

Flowserve Price Performance

Flowserve stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $52.08. 1,382,199 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,288,138. Flowserve Co. has a 52-week low of $37.34 and a 52-week high of $65.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $46.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.97. The company has a market cap of $6.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.34, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.21.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Flowserve had a return on equity of 17.08% and a net margin of 6.20%. The company's revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Flowserve Co. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Flowserve's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.25%.

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.