Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG) Price Target Cut to $225.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG) had its price target dropped by Wells Fargo & Company from $250.00 to $225.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price points to a potential upside of 9.56% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on FERG. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Ferguson from $238.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Ferguson from $211.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ferguson from $229.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ferguson from $228.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ferguson from $203.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $231.57.

Ferguson Price Performance

FERG traded down $1.70 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $205.36. 1,808,381 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,176,785. Ferguson has a 1 year low of $147.62 and a 1 year high of $225.63. The company has a market cap of $41.47 billion, a PE ratio of 22.44, a P/E/G ratio of 6.13 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $204.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $206.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Ferguson (NASDAQ:FERG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 17th. The company reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $7.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.01 billion. Ferguson had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 36.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.77 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ferguson will post 9.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ferguson announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, June 4th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Ferguson

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ferguson during the second quarter worth approximately $976,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ferguson during the second quarter worth approximately $536,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Ferguson by 20.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 176,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,127,000 after acquiring an additional 30,186 shares during the last quarter. Regency Capital Management Inc. DE grew its position in shares of Ferguson by 7.0% during the second quarter. Regency Capital Management Inc. DE now owns 5,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC grew its position in shares of Ferguson by 11.5% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 7,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,418,000 after acquiring an additional 753 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.98% of the company’s stock.

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.