Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Weyerhaeuser in a research report on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Weyerhaeuser in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Weyerhaeuser from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Weyerhaeuser currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.88.

Weyerhaeuser Stock Down 1.0%

WY opened at $25.29 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.53. Weyerhaeuser has a 52 week low of $21.16 and a 52 week high of $31.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $18.22 billion, a PE ratio of 57.47 and a beta of 1.03.

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Weyerhaeuser had a net margin of 4.69% and a return on equity of 1.50%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Weyerhaeuser will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Weyerhaeuser news, Director Sara Grootwassink Lewis purchased 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $23.61 per share, for a total transaction of $106,245.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 25,978 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $613,340.58. This trade represents a 20.95% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Devin W. Stockfish sold 90,162 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.33, for a total value of $2,103,479.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,024,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,910,007.13. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders acquired a total of 28,500 shares of company stock worth $721,645 in the last 90 days. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Weyerhaeuser

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Weyerhaeuser by 0.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 114,318,728 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,936,848,000 after purchasing an additional 542,912 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Weyerhaeuser by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 41,378,212 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $980,250,000 after buying an additional 1,731,315 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 166.1% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 37,621,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $891,242,000 after buying an additional 23,485,504 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,031,378 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $782,513,000 after buying an additional 562,781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser in the second quarter worth $600,502,000. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Weyerhaeuser

Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE: WY) is a leading integrated forest products company whose core businesses are timberland ownership and forest products manufacturing. The company owns and manages large tracts of timberland and harvests, processes and sells wood and wood-derived products used primarily in residential and industrial construction. Its manufacturing operations produce a range of building materials, including lumber, engineered wood products and wood panels, alongside fiber-based products that serve multiple commercial applications.

Founded in 1900 by Frederick Weyerhaeuser and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company has a long history in the North American forest products industry.