Analysts Set Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG) Price Target at $166.50

Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $166.50.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FERG. Raymond James lowered shares of Ferguson from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ferguson from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th.

Institutional Trading of Ferguson

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ferguson by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,804,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,982,073,000 after acquiring an additional 309,275 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in Ferguson by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,247,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,198,094,000 after acquiring an additional 196,489 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ferguson in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $988,852,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Ferguson by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,416,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $537,486,000 after acquiring an additional 123,731 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Ferguson by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,714,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,014,000 after acquiring an additional 118,894 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.98% of the company’s stock.

Ferguson Trading Down 0.4 %

FERG opened at $208.80 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.28, a P/E/G ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 1.27. Ferguson has a 12 month low of $133.10 and a 12 month high of $224.86. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $210.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $187.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 5th. The company reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.08). Ferguson had a net margin of 6.00% and a return on equity of 37.99%. The company had revenue of $6.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.91 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ferguson will post 9.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ferguson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. Ferguson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.74%.

About Ferguson

Ferguson plc distributes plumbing and heating products in the United States and Canada. It offers plumbing and heating solutions to customers in the residential, commercial, civil/infrastructure, and industrial end markets. The company also provides expertise, solutions, and products, including infrastructure, plumbing, appliances, fire, fabrication, and others, as well as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning products under the Ferguson brand name.