California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 5,875 Shares of Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 361,458 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,875 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Ferguson were worth $62,738,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FERG. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Ferguson by 6.6% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 3,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP acquired a new stake in Ferguson during the third quarter worth about $204,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in Ferguson by 1,350.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 145 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Ferguson in the 3rd quarter valued at about $483,000. Finally, Ascent Group LLC raised its position in shares of Ferguson by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,590,000 after buying an additional 687 shares in the last quarter. 81.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FERG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ferguson from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $185.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Ferguson in a report on Monday, March 17th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Ferguson from $205.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Ferguson from $234.00 to $189.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Ferguson from $189.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ferguson has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.62.

Ferguson Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ FERG opened at $160.61 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $173.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $187.26. The stock has a market cap of $32.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.28. Ferguson plc has a 52-week low of $152.52 and a 52-week high of $225.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 11th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.76 billion. Ferguson had a net margin of 5.68% and a return on equity of 34.63%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ferguson plc will post 9.4 EPS for the current year.

Ferguson Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Ferguson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.84%.

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.