Flowserve Corporation $FLS Shares Bought by Erste Asset Management GmbH

Key Points

• Erste Asset Management GmbH significantly increased its stake in Flowserve Corporation by 978.8%, owning over 1 million shares valued at approximately $49 million.
• Flowserve's stock received several positive ratings from analysts, with price targets ranging from $60 to $66, indicating a favorable outlook for the company.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a yield of 1.6%, scheduled for payment on October 10th.

Erste Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS - Free Report) by 978.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,003,800 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 910,750 shares during the quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH owned about 0.77% of Flowserve worth $49,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Flowserve during the fourth quarter valued at $14,546,000. Mariner LLC raised its position in Flowserve by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 6,887 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Flowserve in the 4th quarter worth about $212,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Flowserve by 73.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 189,696 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $10,911,000 after purchasing an additional 80,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Flowserve by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,368,082 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $136,213,000 after buying an additional 38,340 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FLS. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Flowserve from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Flowserve from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Flowserve from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Mizuho set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Flowserve in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Flowserve from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Flowserve has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $65.78.

Flowserve Stock Down 0.1%

FLS stock traded down $0.0650 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $53.4850. The company's stock had a trading volume of 502,972 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,045,050. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.20, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Flowserve Corporation has a 52-week low of $37.34 and a 52-week high of $65.08.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. Flowserve had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 6.28%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Flowserve Corporation will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 26th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 26th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Flowserve's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flowserve

In other news, insider Kirk Wilson sold 10,000 shares of Flowserve stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total transaction of $532,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 37,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,979,571.12. The trade was a 21.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.76% of the company's stock.

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.