West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) have been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the six brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $106.75.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WFG. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on West Fraser Timber from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday.

West Fraser Timber Stock Performance

Shares of WFG stock traded up $0.62 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $85.35. The stock had a trading volume of 6,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 166,751. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. West Fraser Timber has a 1-year low of $64.11 and a 1-year high of $89.57. The firm has a market cap of $6.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -70.92 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s fifty day moving average is $78.56 and its 200-day moving average is $80.13.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. West Fraser Timber had a return on equity of 3.82% and a net margin of 2.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.03) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that West Fraser Timber will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

West Fraser Timber Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 26th were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 26th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. West Fraser Timber’s payout ratio is -105.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On West Fraser Timber

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WFG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $240,820,000 after purchasing an additional 28,399 shares in the last quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $97,533,000 after buying an additional 9,336 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 1,008,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,306,000 after buying an additional 53,002 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in West Fraser Timber during the 4th quarter worth approximately $76,413,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 178.5% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 835,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,236,000 after acquiring an additional 535,708 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.