West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. Announces Dividend of $0.32 (NYSE:WFG)

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) declared a dividend on Wednesday, June 12th, NASDAQ reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.32 per share on Friday, July 12th. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 26th.

West Fraser Timber has raised its dividend payment by an average of 26.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 2 years. West Fraser Timber has a payout ratio of 16.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect West Fraser Timber to earn $8.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.7%.

West Fraser Timber Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE WFG traded up $0.84 during trading on Thursday, hitting $79.90. 138,197 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 142,126. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -65.28 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s fifty day moving average is $79.50 and its 200 day moving average is $80.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 2.33. West Fraser Timber has a fifty-two week low of $64.11 and a fifty-two week high of $90.17.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.48. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.47 billion. West Fraser Timber had a positive return on equity of 2.35% and a negative net margin of 1.39%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.52) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that West Fraser Timber will post 4.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on WFG shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $97.00 price target on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $106.25.

About West Fraser Timber

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.