Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Has $353.78 Million Stock Holdings in Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG) by 589.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,619,637 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,384,570 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.80% of Ferguson worth $353,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Ferguson by 174.9% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 233,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,952,000 after purchasing an additional 148,415 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors acquired a new position in Ferguson in the 1st quarter valued at $104,723,000. MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in Ferguson in the 1st quarter valued at $603,000. Saturna Capital Corp raised its holdings in Ferguson by 621.7% in the 1st quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 145,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,759,000 after acquiring an additional 125,250 shares during the period. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC acquired a new position in Ferguson during the 1st quarter worth $315,000. Institutional investors own 81.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Ferguson from $238.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Ferguson from $217.00 to $211.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Ferguson from $232.00 to $229.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ferguson presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.00.

Ferguson Stock Performance

Ferguson stock traded up $5.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $218.54. The stock had a trading volume of 1,065,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,110,986. Ferguson plc has a fifty-two week low of $147.62 and a fifty-two week high of $224.86. The company has a market cap of $44.13 billion, a PE ratio of 23.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.12 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50-day moving average of $201.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $204.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 4th. The company reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.05. Ferguson had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 36.89%. The firm had revenue of $7.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ferguson plc will post 9.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ferguson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Ferguson’s payout ratio is 34.54%.

Ferguson 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.