South Dakota Investment Council Buys 18,203 Shares of Louisiana-Pacific Co. (NYSE:LPX)

South Dakota Investment Council lifted its stake in Louisiana-Pacific Co. (NYSE:LPX) by 58.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,128 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,203 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council owned about 0.07% of Louisiana-Pacific worth $3,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LPX. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Louisiana-Pacific in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Louisiana-Pacific by 232.9% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 789 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares during the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Louisiana-Pacific in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $94,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new position in Louisiana-Pacific in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $130,000. Finally, Simplicity Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Louisiana-Pacific in the 4th quarter worth approximately $204,000. 94.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lizanne C. Gottung sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.58, for a total value of $193,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,016,692.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on LPX shares. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Louisiana-Pacific from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $76.00 target price on shares of Louisiana-Pacific in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. TheStreet lowered shares of Louisiana-Pacific from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Louisiana-Pacific in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Louisiana-Pacific from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.71.

Louisiana-Pacific Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Louisiana-Pacific stock opened at $75.20 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.69 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 3.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $76.40 and a 200 day moving average of $67.76. Louisiana-Pacific Co. has a fifty-two week low of $49.47 and a fifty-two week high of $84.54.

Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE:LPX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The building manufacturing company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $658.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $618.60 million. Louisiana-Pacific had a net margin of 6.90% and a return on equity of 15.65%. Louisiana-Pacific’s quarterly revenue was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Louisiana-Pacific Co. will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Louisiana-Pacific Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. This is an increase from Louisiana-Pacific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Louisiana-Pacific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.45%.

About Louisiana-Pacific

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.