Blair William & Co. IL Has $12.03 Million Position in Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG)

Blair William & Co. IL cut its position in Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 69,278 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,289 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Ferguson were worth $12,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FERG. Sava Infond d.o.o. acquired a new position in shares of Ferguson in the fourth quarter valued at about $121,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Ferguson by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,646,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $285,772,000 after purchasing an additional 225,987 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ferguson by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 167,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,156,000 after purchasing an additional 31,245 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ferguson by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 6,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ferguson by 227.5% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 43,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,622,000 after buying an additional 30,505 shares during the period. 81.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on FERG shares. Wolfe Research began coverage on Ferguson in a report on Monday, March 17th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Ferguson in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $204.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $189.00 price objective on shares of Ferguson in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ferguson from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Ferguson from $234.00 to $189.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.67.

Ferguson Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ FERG opened at $160.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $32.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.28. Ferguson plc has a twelve month low of $152.52 and a twelve month high of $225.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The business’s fifty day moving average is $173.86 and its 200 day moving average is $187.71.

Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 11th. The company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by ($0.06). Ferguson had a net margin of 5.68% and a return on equity of 34.63%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ferguson plc will post 9.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ferguson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 21st. Ferguson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.84%.

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.