West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $82.6667.

Several brokerages have commented on WFG. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on West Fraser Timber from $91.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of West Fraser Timber from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of West Fraser Timber from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lowered shares of West Fraser Timber from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of West Fraser Timber in a report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Institutional Trading of West Fraser Timber

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFG. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC boosted its stake in West Fraser Timber by 91.6% during the third quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 1,671,846 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,656,000 after buying an additional 799,422 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in West Fraser Timber by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,642,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,388,000 after buying an additional 217,304 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its stake in shares of West Fraser Timber by 149.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 68,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,018,000 after buying an additional 40,960 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of West Fraser Timber by 31,861.9% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 896,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,968,000 after buying an additional 894,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP bought a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,358,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.23% of the company’s stock.

West Fraser Timber Stock Performance

WFG opened at $65.39 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 2.13. The company has a market cap of $4.97 billion, a PE ratio of -5.37 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $68.35 and a 200-day moving average of $66.65. West Fraser Timber has a 52-week low of $57.34 and a 52-week high of $79.33.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported ($2.42) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.71) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. West Fraser Timber had a negative return on equity of 5.69% and a negative net margin of 17.15%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that West Fraser Timber will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Fraser Timber Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. West Fraser Timber’s payout ratio is currently -10.51%.

About West Fraser Timber

West Fraser Timber Co Ltd. (NYSE: WFG) is a leading North American diversified wood products company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company operates a broad portfolio of manufacturing facilities that produce lumber, engineered wood products such as laminated veneer lumber (LVL), oriented strand board (OSB) and plywood, as well as medium density fibreboard (MDF), particleboard, pulp and paper. West Fraser’s integrated production model spans harvesting, milling and finishing, allowing it to serve a wide range of residential, commercial and industrial construction markets.

Founded in 1955 as West Fraser Mills, the company has grown through both organic investment and strategic acquisitions to become one of the largest lumber producers in the world.