West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) have been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the six brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $106.25.

Several research firms have weighed in on WFG. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $97.00 price target on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Scotiabank set a $100.00 target price on shares of West Fraser Timber and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On West Fraser Timber

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber during the third quarter valued at approximately $112,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of West Fraser Timber by 5.7% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 7,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $519,000 after buying an additional 385 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of West Fraser Timber by 6.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 8,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of West Fraser Timber by 1.4% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 25,614 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,868,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of West Fraser Timber by 6.4% during the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 342,096 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,951,000 after acquiring an additional 20,517 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.23% of the company’s stock.

West Fraser Timber Stock Performance

Shares of West Fraser Timber stock opened at $78.23 on Tuesday. West Fraser Timber has a fifty-two week low of $64.11 and a fifty-two week high of $90.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -64.65 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $81.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.26.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.48. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.47 billion. West Fraser Timber had a negative net margin of 1.39% and a positive return on equity of 2.35%. West Fraser Timber’s revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.52) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that West Fraser Timber will post 4.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Fraser Timber Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. West Fraser Timber’s payout ratio is -49.59%.

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.