Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.7778.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WY shares. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $26.00 target price (down previously from $29.00) on shares of Weyerhaeuser in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Weyerhaeuser in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen cut Weyerhaeuser from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, August 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Weyerhaeuser from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Weyerhaeuser from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th.

Weyerhaeuser Price Performance

WY opened at $22.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 244.04 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.01. Weyerhaeuser has a one year low of $21.16 and a one year high of $32.70.

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.13. Weyerhaeuser had a net margin of 3.97% and a return on equity of 2.95%. The firm had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.05 EPS. Weyerhaeuser’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Weyerhaeuser will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weyerhaeuser Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Weyerhaeuser’s dividend payout ratio is 186.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Weyerhaeuser

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WY. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 0.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 114,318,728 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,936,848,000 after buying an additional 542,912 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Weyerhaeuser by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 39,646,897 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $982,847,000 after acquiring an additional 2,343,724 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,468,597 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $804,897,000 after purchasing an additional 602,901 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Weyerhaeuser in the second quarter valued at approximately $600,502,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 1.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,909,790 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $509,460,000 after purchasing an additional 340,948 shares during the period. 82.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Weyerhaeuser

Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world's largest private owners of timberlands, began operations in 1900. We own or control approximately 11 million acres of timberlands in the U.S. and manage additional timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. We manage these timberlands on a sustainable basis in compliance with internationally recognized forestry standards.