Vestcor Inc Sells 6,435 Shares of Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG)

Vestcor Inc lowered its holdings in Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG) by 63.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,729 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,435 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Ferguson were worth $740,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ferguson by 76.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 867,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,281,000 after acquiring an additional 377,283 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Ferguson during the 3rd quarter worth about $50,570,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Ferguson by 2.9% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 74,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,765,000 after buying an additional 2,086 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its position in Ferguson by 116.6% in the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 28,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,685,000 after buying an additional 15,410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association grew its stake in Ferguson by 36.5% during the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 22,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,479,000 after buying an additional 6,031 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Richard Winckler sold 1,325 shares of Ferguson stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.75, for a total transaction of $267,318.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $201,750. This trade represents a 56.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Garland Williams sold 1,118 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.22, for a total transaction of $224,963.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $378,696.04. This represents a 37.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,313 shares of company stock valued at $2,477,901 in the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ferguson Trading Down 1.7 %

FERG opened at $190.35 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $203.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $202.46. Ferguson plc has a fifty-two week low of $180.98 and a fifty-two week high of $225.63. The company has a market cap of $38.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, September 17th. The company reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.12. Ferguson had a net margin of 5.68% and a return on equity of 34.85%. The company had revenue of $7.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.77 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ferguson plc will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ferguson Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a positive change from Ferguson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 20th. Ferguson’s payout ratio is presently 37.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Ferguson in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $234.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on Ferguson from $245.00 to $234.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $219.00 price target on shares of Ferguson in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Ferguson from $230.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ferguson from $228.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ferguson currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.00.

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.