West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $87.25.

A number of research analysts recently commented on WFG shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Securities lowered their price target on West Fraser Timber from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on West Fraser Timber from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Zacks Research cut West Fraser Timber from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of West Fraser Timber from $92.00 to $91.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Sunday, October 26th.

West Fraser Timber Stock Performance

WFG stock opened at $62.00 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.50. The company has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.51 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. West Fraser Timber has a fifty-two week low of $57.34 and a fifty-two week high of $99.20.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The company reported ($2.63) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.72) by ($0.91). The company had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.38 billion. West Fraser Timber had a negative return on equity of 2.63% and a negative net margin of 4.35%. Sell-side analysts predict that West Fraser Timber will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Fraser Timber Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 25th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 25th. West Fraser Timber’s payout ratio is presently -38.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 31,861.9% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 896,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,968,000 after buying an additional 894,046 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 89.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,720,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,910,000 after acquiring an additional 812,474 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of West Fraser Timber by 91.6% during the third quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 1,671,846 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,656,000 after purchasing an additional 799,422 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of West Fraser Timber during the second quarter valued at $56,870,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of West Fraser Timber by 202.1% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 395,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,399,000 after purchasing an additional 264,322 shares during the period. 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.