Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG) Shares Acquired by Mackenzie Financial Corp

Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG) by 7,751.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 306,607 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 302,702 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in Ferguson were worth $59,197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FERG. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Ferguson during the 1st quarter valued at $370,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ferguson by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 34,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,669,000 after acquiring an additional 3,570 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ferguson by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,046,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,213,327,000 after acquiring an additional 191,587 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ferguson by 100.4% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $670,000 after acquiring an additional 2,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in shares of Ferguson by 31.4% during the 1st quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 161,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,630,000 after acquiring an additional 38,584 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FERG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James lowered shares of Ferguson from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ferguson from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ferguson has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.50.

Ferguson Stock Performance

Ferguson stock opened at $215.41 on Wednesday. Ferguson plc has a 12-month low of $130.09 and a 12-month high of $224.86. The company has a market capitalization of $43.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.98 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $209.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $187.10.

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

Ferguson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. Ferguson’s payout ratio is currently 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.