West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (WFG) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 on October 11th

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, September 10th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a dividend of 0.237 per share on Friday, October 11th. This represents a $0.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th.

West Fraser Timber has increased its dividend by an average of 26.2% annually over the last three years. West Fraser Timber has a payout ratio of 22.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect West Fraser Timber to earn $8.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.6%.

West Fraser Timber Stock Performance

West Fraser Timber stock traded up $1.19 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $87.95. The company had a trading volume of 27,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 159,383. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -72.92 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day moving average of $83.95 and a 200-day moving average of $81.53. West Fraser Timber has a 52 week low of $64.11 and a 52 week high of $91.43.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.03) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that West Fraser Timber will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on WFG shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on West Fraser Timber from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, West Fraser Timber has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.60.

About West Fraser Timber

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.