Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Stock Holdings in Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,048 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,618 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Ferguson were worth $6,960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in Ferguson by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 542,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,318,000 after purchasing an additional 29,396 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ferguson by 807.2% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,802,000 after purchasing an additional 12,915 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Ferguson by 37.6% during the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 30,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,929,000 after purchasing an additional 8,395 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Ferguson by 491.4% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 220,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,569,000 after acquiring an additional 183,199 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in shares of Ferguson by 102.0% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 77,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,014,000 after acquiring an additional 39,267 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Raymond James downgraded shares of Ferguson from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $166.50.

Ferguson Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of FERG opened at $217.17 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $44.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.79, a P/E/G ratio of 8.91 and a beta of 1.27. Ferguson plc has a twelve month low of $137.12 and a twelve month high of $224.86. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $212.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $190.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

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

Ferguson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid 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 is presently 36.74%.

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.