Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stake in Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Flowserve Co. (NYSE:FLS - Free Report) by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 438,389 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 55,607 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.33% of Flowserve worth $21,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Flowserve by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,405,458 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $552,573,000 after acquiring an additional 144,704 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Flowserve by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,003,699 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $82,595,000 after buying an additional 157,125 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Flowserve in the fourth quarter worth about $59,261,000. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Flowserve by 1.3% in the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,283,016 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $58,608,000 after buying an additional 16,500 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Flowserve by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,259,002 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $51,896,000 after acquiring an additional 24,449 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on FLS shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Flowserve from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Flowserve from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowserve from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Flowserve from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Flowserve currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $56.11.

Flowserve Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE FLS traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $47.33. The stock had a trading volume of 586,617 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,020,618. The business's 50 day moving average is $48.18 and its 200-day moving average is $47.14. The company has a market cap of $6.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.92, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.42. Flowserve Co. has a 52 week low of $35.31 and a 52 week high of $52.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Flowserve (NYSE:FLS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Flowserve had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Flowserve Co. will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Flowserve Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. Flowserve's payout ratio is currently 47.46%.

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.