Norges Bank Invests $638.47 Million in Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY)

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 22,681,007 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $638,470,000. Norges Bank owned 3.12% of Weyerhaeuser as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WY. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 39.1% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $963,000 after buying an additional 7,992 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 154,321 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,225,000 after acquiring an additional 23,023 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 29.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 970,717 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,762,000 after acquiring an additional 220,142 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Weyerhaeuser in the third quarter valued at approximately $109,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 27.2% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,467,914 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,704,000 after purchasing an additional 313,583 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WY shares. CIBC upgraded shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Raymond James raised Weyerhaeuser from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price target on Weyerhaeuser from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Weyerhaeuser from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, December 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.00.

Weyerhaeuser Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:WY opened at $29.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.79. The company has a market capitalization of $21.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 1.43. Weyerhaeuser has a one year low of $26.73 and a one year high of $36.27. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.72.

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. Weyerhaeuser had a return on equity of 3.86% and a net margin of 5.56%. Sell-side analysts predict that Weyerhaeuser will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Weyerhaeuser Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Weyerhaeuser’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Weyerhaeuser’s payout ratio is currently 152.73%.

Weyerhaeuser Company Profile

Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world's largest private owners of timberlands, began operations in 1900. We own or control approximately 11 million acres of timberlands in the U.S. and manage additional timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. We manage these timberlands on a sustainable basis in compliance with internationally recognized forestry standards.