Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $231.57.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on FERG shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Ferguson from $238.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ferguson from $228.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ferguson from $203.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Ferguson from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Ferguson from $229.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th.

Institutional Trading of Ferguson

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FERG. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Ferguson by 375.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,289,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,218,032,000 after buying an additional 4,966,821 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake 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 buying an additional 1,384,570 shares during the period. Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Ferguson in the first quarter valued at about $104,723,000. Robeco Schweiz AG acquired a new stake in shares of Ferguson in the fourth quarter valued at about $61,782,000. Finally, Waverton Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in Ferguson by 61.0% during the second quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 812,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,293,000 after purchasing an additional 308,138 shares during the period. 81.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ferguson Price Performance

Shares of FERG opened at $198.64 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Ferguson has a 1 year low of $147.62 and a 1 year high of $225.63. The stock has a market cap of $39.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $200.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $205.74.

Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 17th. The company reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.12. Ferguson had a return on equity of 36.53% and a net margin of 5.85%. The business had revenue of $7.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.77 EPS. Ferguson’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Ferguson will post 9.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Ferguson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Ferguson’s payout ratio is 37.05%.

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.