Brokerages Set West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Target Price at $82.60

Shares of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $82.60.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial cut West Fraser Timber from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on West Fraser Timber from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $86.00 price target on shares of West Fraser Timber in a report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen cut their target price on West Fraser Timber from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research note on Monday, April 20th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On West Fraser Timber

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFG. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 3.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 230,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,764,000 after acquiring an additional 6,640 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 9.0% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $571,000 after acquiring an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in West Fraser Timber during the second quarter worth $5,248,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 2.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 114,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,419,000 after acquiring an additional 2,419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 2.1% during the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 23,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,753,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.23% of the company’s stock.

West Fraser Timber Price Performance

NYSE:WFG opened at $67.21 on Wednesday. West Fraser Timber has a one year low of $57.34 and a one year high of $78.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a PE ratio of -4.47 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $65.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.54.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($2.40) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by ($1.17). West Fraser Timber had a negative net margin of 21.86% and a negative return on equity of 9.67%. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. Equities research analysts expect that West Fraser Timber will post -3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Fraser Timber Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 25th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. West Fraser Timber’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -8.51%.

West Fraser Timber Company 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.