West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) have been given an average rating of “Buy” by the six research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $106.25.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WFG. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $97.00 target price on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of West Fraser Timber from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th.

West Fraser Timber Price Performance

NYSE WFG opened at $75.39 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.88. West Fraser Timber has a 52-week low of $64.11 and a 52-week high of $90.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.33.

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

West Fraser Timber Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 26th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. West Fraser Timber’s dividend payout ratio is currently -105.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On West Fraser Timber

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of West Fraser Timber in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of West Fraser Timber in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $218,000. EJF Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 18.6% in the 1st quarter. EJF Capital LLC now owns 8,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $717,000 after buying an additional 1,302 shares during the last quarter. Appian Way Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of West Fraser Timber in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,220,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. now owns 3,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.23% of the company’s stock.

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.