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

Shares of Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $221.50.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on FERG shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Ferguson from $217.00 to $211.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Ferguson from $236.00 to $232.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 5th.

Ferguson Price Performance

Shares of FERG opened at $200.09 on Tuesday. Ferguson has a fifty-two week low of $144.59 and a fifty-two week high of $224.86. The company has a market capitalization of $40.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.30 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $212.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $200.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 4th. The company reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $7.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.32 billion. Ferguson had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 36.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.20 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ferguson will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ferguson Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. Ferguson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FERG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ferguson in the fourth quarter valued at about $988,852,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Ferguson by 589.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,619,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,778,000 after purchasing an additional 1,384,570 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Ferguson by 44.9% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,371,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,905,000 after purchasing an additional 735,270 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ferguson by 58.4% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,872,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $361,594,000 after purchasing an additional 690,643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Ferguson in the first quarter valued at approximately $104,723,000. 81.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ferguson Company Profile

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.