Cumberland Partners Ltd Boosts Stock Holdings in Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG)

Cumberland Partners Ltd boosted its position in Ferguson plc (NASDAQ:FERG) by 16.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 27,765 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,865 shares during the period. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in Ferguson were worth $5,361,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of Ferguson by 1,038.5% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,438,000 after acquiring an additional 7,976 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Ferguson by 93.8% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 597 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ferguson by 15.9% during the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,362,000 after acquiring an additional 1,968 shares in the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Ferguson by 6,870.4% during the third quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 1,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ferguson by 54.5% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 22,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,743,000 after acquiring an additional 7,867 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ferguson from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Raymond James downgraded 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ferguson currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $166.50.

Ferguson Price Performance

Shares of FERG stock traded up $3.71 on Tuesday, reaching $211.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 730,114 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,139,664. The company has a market capitalization of $42.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.64, a PEG ratio of 8.72 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 12-month low of $133.79 and a 12-month high of $224.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $211.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $188.78.

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

Ferguson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Ferguson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.74%.

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.