West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $105.60.

Several research firms have issued reports on WFG. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of West Fraser Timber from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on West Fraser Timber from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th.

West Fraser Timber Price Performance

WFG stock opened at $92.56 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $85.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.86. West Fraser Timber has a 1 year low of $64.11 and a 1 year high of $93.62. The stock has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a PE ratio of -76.45 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by ($0.09). West Fraser Timber had a net margin of 2.23% and a return on equity of 3.83%. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.03) earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that West Fraser Timber will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Fraser Timber Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be issued a $0.237 dividend. This represents a $0.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. West Fraser Timber’s dividend payout ratio is currently -77.69%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On West Fraser Timber

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in West Fraser Timber by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,813,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,820,000 after purchasing an additional 28,399 shares during the period. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of West Fraser Timber by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. now owns 1,134,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,533,000 after buying an additional 9,336 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 18.4% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 989,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,053,000 after acquiring an additional 153,600 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of West Fraser Timber during the 4th quarter worth approximately $76,413,000. Finally, Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 15.2% in the second quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 692,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,229,000 after acquiring an additional 91,490 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.23% of the company’s stock.

West Fraser Timber Company Profile

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.