Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New $1.46 Million Investment in Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased 50,000 shares of Weyerhaeuser Company valued at approximately $1,464,000 in the first quarter, marking a significant new investment in the real estate investment trust.
• Weyerhaeuser recently reported quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $0.12 surpassing estimates, although revenue declined by 2.8% year-over-year.
• The company also announced a $1.00 billion share buyback program, reflecting the board's belief that the shares are undervalued.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 50,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $1,464,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WY. Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 10,830 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the period. Texas Yale Capital Corp. boosted its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 9,924 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. S.A. Mason LLC boosted its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 5.6% in the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 7,642 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Weyerhaeuser by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,425 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC boosted its stake in Weyerhaeuser by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 18,118 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $510,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Weyerhaeuser from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Weyerhaeuser from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Weyerhaeuser from a "strong-buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Weyerhaeuser from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Weyerhaeuser from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Weyerhaeuser has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $32.88.

Weyerhaeuser Price Performance

Weyerhaeuser stock traded up $0.53 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $25.80. 4,830,616 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,184,027. The firm has a market cap of $18.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.90, a P/E/G ratio of 66.09 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $26.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.46. Weyerhaeuser Company has a 1-year low of $24.10 and a 1-year high of $34.03.

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. Weyerhaeuser had a net margin of 3.97% and a return on equity of 2.95%. Weyerhaeuser's quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.21 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Weyerhaeuser Company will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weyerhaeuser declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 8th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the real estate investment trust to purchase up to 5.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Weyerhaeuser Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Weyerhaeuser's payout ratio is currently 221.05%.

About Weyerhaeuser

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.