Stella-Jones (TSE:SJ) Sets New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Stella-Jones Inc. (TSE:SJ)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Scotiabank upgraded the stock from a hold rating to an outperform rating. Scotiabank now has a C$98.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of C$88.00. Stella-Jones traded as high as C$92.84 and last traded at C$91.27, with a volume of 84994 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$88.10.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. TD Securities upped their price objective on Stella-Jones from C$90.00 to C$97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Raymond James Financial set a C$100.00 target price on shares of Stella-Jones and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of Stella-Jones from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. National Bankshares upped their price target on Stella-Jones from C$95.00 to C$107.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, CIBC decreased their price objective on Stella-Jones from C$90.00 to C$89.00 in a report on Friday, November 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$97.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Michelle Annette Banik purchased 472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of C$84.60 per share, for a total transaction of C$39,931.20. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 472 shares in the company, valued at C$39,931.20. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Stella-Jones Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average is C$86.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$82.17. The company has a current ratio of 6.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 87.53. The stock has a market capitalization of C$5.01 billion, a PE ratio of 14.94, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of -0.24.

Stella-Jones (TSE:SJ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported C$1.59 EPS for the quarter. Stella-Jones had a return on equity of 18.36% and a net margin of 9.43%.The company had revenue of C$958.00 million for the quarter. On average, analysts predict that Stella-Jones Inc. will post 6.4457565 earnings per share for the current year.

Stella-Jones Company Profile

Stella-Jones Inc produces and sells lumber and wood products. The company operates in two segments: Pressure-treated wood, which includes utility poles, railway ties, residential lumber, and industrial products; and Logs & Lumber segment comprises of the sales of logs harvested in the course of the company’s procurement process that is determined to be unsuitable for use as utility poles, it also includes the sale of excess lumber to local home-building markets. The vast majority of its revenue comes from the Pressure-treated wood segment.