Short Interest in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) Rises By 59.2%

Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,990,000 shares, a growth of 59.2% from the March 31st total of 1,250,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,150,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Flowserve from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Flowserve from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowserve from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Flowserve from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Flowserve from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $48.25.

Flowserve Price Performance

NYSE FLS traded up $0.41 on Friday, hitting $46.76. 621,967 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,118,299. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $44.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.27. The company has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Flowserve has a 1-year low of $32.37 and a 1-year high of $48.31.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Flowserve had a net margin of 4.32% and a return on equity of 14.44%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Flowserve will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Flowserve Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Flowserve's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Flowserve's payout ratio is currently 59.57%.

Institutional Trading of Flowserve

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FLS. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Flowserve in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,261,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in Flowserve during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,745,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Flowserve during the 4th quarter worth approximately $22,321,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Flowserve by 270.4% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 636,509 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $25,314,000 after purchasing an additional 464,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pantechnicon Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Flowserve during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $17,976,000. 93.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.