Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $1.28 Million Position in Louisiana-Pacific Co. (NYSE:LPX)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Louisiana-Pacific Co. (NYSE:LPX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 18,000 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Louisiana-Pacific by 1.4% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 18,461 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock valued at $1,020,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC increased its position in Louisiana-Pacific by 3.2% during the third quarter. Invst LLC now owns 13,160 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock valued at $727,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Louisiana-Pacific during the third quarter valued at $37,000. EMC Capital Management increased its position in Louisiana-Pacific by 14.1% during the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 6,386 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock valued at $353,000 after acquiring an additional 788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strong Tower Advisory Services increased its position in Louisiana-Pacific by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 51,520 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock valued at $3,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,189 shares during the last quarter. 94.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Louisiana-Pacific in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Louisiana-Pacific from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Louisiana-Pacific from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $76.00 price target on shares of Louisiana-Pacific in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, TheStreet cut Louisiana-Pacific from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.71.

Insider Activity at Louisiana-Pacific

In related news, Director Lizanne C. Gottung sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.58, for a total transaction of $193,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,016,692.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Louisiana-Pacific Stock Performance

NYSE:LPX opened at $73.24 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.00, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Louisiana-Pacific Co. has a 12-month low of $49.47 and a 12-month high of $84.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $76.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.89 and a beta of 1.84.

Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE:LPX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The building manufacturing company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.17. Louisiana-Pacific had a return on equity of 15.65% and a net margin of 6.90%. The company had revenue of $658.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $618.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Louisiana-Pacific Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Louisiana-Pacific Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from Louisiana-Pacific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. Louisiana-Pacific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.45%.

Louisiana-Pacific Profile

Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides building solutions primarily for use in new home construction, repair and remodeling, and outdoor structure markets. It operates through Siding, Oriented Strand Board, LP South America, and Other segments. The Siding segment offers LP SmartSide trim and siding products, LP SmartSide ExpertFinish trim and siding products, LP BuilderSeries lap siding products, and LP Outdoor Building Solutions; and engineered wood siding, trim, soffit, and fascia products.