Bailard Inc. Makes New $365,000 Investment in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Bailard Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,845 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $365,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FLS. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Flowserve during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Flowserve by 153.0% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the third quarter worth $107,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Flowserve during the 3rd quarter valued at about $201,000. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL bought a new stake in shares of Flowserve during the third quarter valued at about $211,000. 93.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FLS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowserve from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Flowserve from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on Flowserve from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Mizuho raised their price target on Flowserve from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.25.

Flowserve Price Performance

FLS opened at $46.76 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.16, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $44.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.30. Flowserve Co. has a 12-month low of $32.37 and a 12-month high of $48.31.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) last issued its 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Flowserve had a return on equity of 14.44% and a net margin of 4.32%. Flowserve’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Flowserve Co. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowserve Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This is a boost from Flowserve’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.57%.

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.