West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $106.25.

WFG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on West Fraser Timber from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Scotiabank set a $100.00 target price on West Fraser Timber and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $97.00 target price on shares of West Fraser Timber in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, TD Securities raised their target price on West Fraser Timber from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On West Fraser Timber

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WFG. Bfsg LLC bought a new position in West Fraser Timber in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc bought a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber during the first quarter worth approximately $43,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC bought a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber during the fourth quarter worth approximately $78,000. Finally, Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber during the first quarter worth approximately $103,000. 40.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

West Fraser Timber Stock Performance

WFG opened at $78.23 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a PE ratio of -64.65 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.26. West Fraser Timber has a fifty-two week low of $64.11 and a fifty-two week high of $90.17.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.48. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.47 billion. West Fraser Timber had a positive return on equity of 2.35% and a negative net margin of 1.39%. West Fraser Timber’s revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.52) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that West Fraser Timber will post 4.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Fraser Timber Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. West Fraser Timber’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -49.59%.

About West Fraser Timber

West Fraser Timber Co Ltd., a diversified wood products company, engages in manufacturing, selling, marketing, and distributing lumber, engineered wood products, pulp, newsprint, wood chips, and other residuals and renewable energy. It offers spruce-pine-fir, douglas fir-larch, hem-fir, and southern yellow pine lumber, treated wood products, medium density fiberboard panels and plywood, oriented strand board, and laminated veneer lumber wood products, as well as particleboards.