BMO Capital Markets Raises West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) Price Target to $115.00

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) had its price objective raised by BMO Capital Markets from $105.00 to $115.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of West Fraser Timber from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $107.60.

West Fraser Timber Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of WFG stock opened at $95.50 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.49. West Fraser Timber has a 1 year low of $64.11 and a 1 year high of $102.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.22 and a beta of 1.16.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. West Fraser Timber had a net margin of 2.23% and a return on equity of 3.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.03) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that West Fraser Timber will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

West Fraser Timber Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th were paid a $0.237 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $0.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. West Fraser Timber’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.90%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,813,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,820,000 after acquiring an additional 28,399 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 18.4% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 989,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,053,000 after acquiring an additional 153,600 shares during the last quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 15.2% in the second quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 692,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,229,000 after acquiring an additional 91,490 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new position in West Fraser Timber in the second quarter valued at $52,645,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 7.5% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 571,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,683,000 after acquiring an additional 39,651 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.23% of the company’s stock.

West Fraser Timber Company Profile

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.