West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $82.60.

WFG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of West Fraser Timber from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial cut shares of West Fraser Timber from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Fraser Mackenzie cut their price objective on shares of West Fraser Timber from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of West Fraser Timber from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of West Fraser Timber in a report on Monday, April 20th.

West Fraser Timber Stock Performance

WFG stock opened at $69.94 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.65 and a beta of 0.99. West Fraser Timber has a 1 year low of $57.34 and a 1 year high of $78.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $64.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.26.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($2.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by ($1.17). The company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. West Fraser Timber had a negative net margin of 21.86% and a negative return on equity of 9.67%. On average, research analysts predict that West Fraser Timber will post -3.99 EPS for the current year.

West Fraser Timber Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 25th. West Fraser Timber’s payout ratio is presently -8.51%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new position in West Fraser Timber in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,358,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 820.9% in the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,803,000 after purchasing an additional 84,550 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 77.7% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 56,435 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,837,000 after purchasing an additional 24,672 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 262,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,845,000 after purchasing an additional 96,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 41.2% in the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 252,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,177,000 after purchasing an additional 73,727 shares in the last quarter. 40.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

West Fraser Timber Company Profile

West Fraser Timber Co Ltd. (NYSE: WFG) is a leading North American diversified wood products company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company operates a broad portfolio of manufacturing facilities that produce lumber, engineered wood products such as laminated veneer lumber (LVL), oriented strand board (OSB) and plywood, as well as medium density fibreboard (MDF), particleboard, pulp and paper. West Fraser’s integrated production model spans harvesting, milling and finishing, allowing it to serve a wide range of residential, commercial and industrial construction markets.

Founded in 1955 as West Fraser Mills, the company has grown through both organic investment and strategic acquisitions to become one of the largest lumber producers in the world.