Hudson Bay Capital Management LP Takes $952,000 Position in West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. $WFG

Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 14,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $952,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WFG. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in West Fraser Timber by 31,861.9% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 896,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,968,000 after purchasing an additional 894,046 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in West Fraser Timber by 89.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,720,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,910,000 after acquiring an additional 812,474 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of West Fraser Timber in the second quarter worth approximately $56,870,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 217,304 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial raised shares of West Fraser Timber from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lowered shares of West Fraser Timber from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research upgraded West Fraser Timber from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of West Fraser Timber from $91.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, West Fraser Timber currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.67.

West Fraser Timber Stock Performance

NYSE WFG opened at $59.99 on Monday. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has a 1-year low of $57.34 and a 1-year high of $79.22. The company has a 50 day moving average of $68.61 and a 200-day moving average of $65.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.93 and a beta of 1.12.

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

West Fraser Timber Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. West Fraser Timber’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -10.51%.

West Fraser Timber Profile

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.