Analysts Set West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Price Target at $83.20

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $83.20.

WFG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of West Fraser Timber from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of West Fraser Timber from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of West Fraser Timber from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 31st.

Institutional Trading of West Fraser Timber

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WFG. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in West Fraser Timber during the 2nd quarter valued at $156,000. QV Investors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of West Fraser Timber by 50.8% in the second quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 355,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,091,000 after buying an additional 119,945 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of West Fraser Timber by 171.7% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 736,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,836,000 after buying an additional 465,694 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber during the second quarter valued at about $21,429,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber during the second quarter valued at about $2,243,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.23% of the company’s stock.

West Fraser Timber Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE WFG opened at $68.89 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.46 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 0.83. West Fraser Timber has a one year low of $57.34 and a one year high of $76.99.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.78) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.70) by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. West Fraser Timber had a negative return on equity of 10.84% and a negative net margin of 22.98%. Research analysts expect that West Fraser Timber will post -3.77 earnings per share for the current year.

West Fraser Timber Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 25th were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 25th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. West Fraser Timber’s dividend payout ratio is presently -8.29%.

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.