Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG) Price Target to $180.00

Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG) had its price objective dropped by Wells Fargo & Company from $205.00 to $180.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 15.96% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on FERG. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Ferguson from $221.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Ferguson from $211.00 to $189.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $193.00 price objective (down from $230.00) on shares of Ferguson in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America raised shares of Ferguson from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $185.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Ferguson in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $204.00 price objective on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.64.

Ferguson Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FERG opened at $155.23 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $176.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $190.62. Ferguson has a 12 month low of $152.52 and a 12 month 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 firm has a market capitalization of $31.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Institutional Trading of Ferguson

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ferguson by 33.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 364 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ferguson by 32.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 32,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,359,000 after buying an additional 7,862 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Ferguson during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ferguson by 14.0% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 491,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,504,000 after buying an additional 60,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ferguson by 47.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 245,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,652,000 after buying an additional 78,775 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.98% of the company’s stock.

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.