Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Buys 3,300 Shares of Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG - Free Report) by 985.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,635 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.'s holdings in Ferguson were worth $631,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FERG. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ferguson by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,541,079 shares of the company's stock worth $905,230,000 after buying an additional 161,662 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Ferguson by 944.4% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,537,155 shares of the company's stock valued at $613,944,000 after acquiring an additional 3,198,477 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ferguson by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,197,621 shares of the company's stock worth $633,409,000 after acquiring an additional 25,677 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in Ferguson by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,804,595 shares of the company's stock worth $486,814,000 after purchasing an additional 192,052 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ferguson in the fourth quarter valued at $469,730,000. Institutional investors own 81.98% of the company's stock.

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Ferguson Stock Performance

Shares of Ferguson stock traded down $3.19 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $155.22. The company had a trading volume of 4,323,025 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,530,107. The firm has a market cap of $31.04 billion, a PE ratio of 18.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.28. Ferguson plc has a one year low of $148.81 and a one year high of $225.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $186.61.

Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 11th. The company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.58 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.76 billion. Ferguson had a net margin of 5.68% and a return on equity of 34.63%. Ferguson's revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Ferguson plc will post 9.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ferguson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 6th. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Ferguson's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on FERG. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $189.00 target price on shares of Ferguson in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Ferguson in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $204.00 price target for the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $193.00 price objective (down from $230.00) on shares of Ferguson in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Ferguson from $211.00 to $190.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Ferguson in a report on Tuesday. They set a "hold" rating and a $174.00 price target for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ferguson currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $198.62.

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.