Raymond James Has Lowered Expectations for West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) Stock Price

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) had its price objective decreased by Raymond James from $115.00 to $105.00 in a research note released on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. Raymond James currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on WFG. Scotiabank dropped their target price on West Fraser Timber from $120.00 to $109.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on West Fraser Timber from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, West Fraser Timber currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.40.

West Fraser Timber Price Performance

Shares of WFG opened at $80.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -62.85 and a beta of 1.22. West Fraser Timber has a 1 year low of $73.91 and a 1 year high of $102.40. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.69.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.55) by $0.63. West Fraser Timber had a negative net margin of 1.53% and a positive return on equity of 0.53%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that West Fraser Timber will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

West Fraser Timber Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. West Fraser Timber’s payout ratio is currently -100.00%.

Institutional Trading of West Fraser Timber

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFG. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 35.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,041,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $436,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319,843 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in West Fraser Timber by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,846,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,652,000 after buying an additional 12,874 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in West Fraser Timber by 22.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,447,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,047,000 after buying an additional 266,298 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in West Fraser Timber during the fourth quarter worth $81,605,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in West Fraser Timber by 37.1% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 939,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,429,000 after acquiring an additional 254,220 shares in the last quarter. 40.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.