Raymond James & Associates Buys 73,775 Shares of Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG)

Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG) by 34.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 289,081 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 73,775 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Ferguson were worth $63,144,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Ferguson by 2.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,247,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,198,094,000 after purchasing an additional 196,489 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ferguson during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $988,852,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Ferguson by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,714,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,014,000 after buying an additional 118,894 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in Ferguson by 44.9% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,371,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,905,000 after buying an additional 735,270 shares during the period. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ferguson by 58.4% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,872,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $361,594,000 after buying an additional 690,643 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.98% of the company’s stock.

Ferguson Stock Performance

Shares of FERG stock traded up $3.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $217.17. The stock had a trading volume of 836,882 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,146,346. The firm has a market cap of $44.04 billion, a PE ratio of 25.25, a P/E/G ratio of 8.91 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Ferguson plc has a one year low of $137.12 and a one year high of $224.86. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $213.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $191.02.

Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 5th. The company reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by ($0.08). Ferguson had a return on equity of 37.99% and a net margin of 6.00%. The business had revenue of $6.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.91 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Ferguson plc will post 9.66 EPS for the current year.

Ferguson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. Ferguson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Raymond James lowered shares of Ferguson from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ferguson has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $166.50.

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.