Royal Bank of Canada Has Lowered Expectations for Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG) Stock Price

Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG) had its price target reduced by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $211.00 to $189.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 21.76% from the stock’s previous close.

FERG has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on shares of Ferguson from $224.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Ferguson from $221.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Ferguson from $234.00 to $189.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Ferguson and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Ferguson from $215.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.64.

Ferguson Stock Performance

Ferguson stock opened at $155.23 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $176.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $190.62. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $152.52 and a fifty-two week high of $225.63. The company has a market capitalization of $31.04 billion, a PE ratio of 18.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ferguson

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FERG. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ferguson by 944.4% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,537,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $613,944,000 after buying an additional 3,198,477 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ferguson during the fourth quarter valued at $469,730,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Ferguson by 208.8% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,678,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $464,973,000 after buying an additional 1,811,287 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ferguson by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,007,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,740,049,000 after buying an additional 1,539,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group purchased a new stake in shares of Ferguson during the fourth quarter valued at $239,539,000. 81.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.