Varenne Capital Partners Buys Shares of 455,777 Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Varenne Capital Partners acquired a new stake in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 455,777 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,216,000. Flowserve makes up 7.7% of Varenne Capital Partners’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Flowserve by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,477,208 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $775,209,000 after buying an additional 101,668 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Flowserve by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,886,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $201,685,000 after acquiring an additional 37,132 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Flowserve by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,201,993 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $113,851,000 after acquiring an additional 23,529 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Flowserve in the 4th quarter worth approximately $94,629,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Flowserve by 197.6% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 913,268 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,207,000 after acquiring an additional 606,416 shares during the last quarter. 93.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flowserve Price Performance

FLS stock opened at $48.72 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $56.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.48. 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 capitalization of $6.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.77, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.43. Flowserve Co. has a 52-week low of $43.66 and a 52-week 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 firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Flowserve had a return on equity of 17.08% and a net margin of 6.20%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Flowserve Co. will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowserve Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Flowserve’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FLS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Flowserve from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut Flowserve from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Flowserve from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Flowserve from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Flowserve from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Two research 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.60.

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.