JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 41,622 Shares of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. $WFG

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase sold 41,622 shares of West Fraser Timber (a 90.1% reduction), leaving it with 4,563 shares valued at about $310,000 after the third quarter 13F filing.
• Analyst coverage is mixed but cautious: the consensus rating is "Hold" with a $82.67 average price target after several upgrades and downgrades from firms like Raymond James and RBC.
• West Fraser reported Q results with ($2.42) EPS that beat estimates, revenue roughly in line, but the company remains unprofitable (negative margin and ROE) and pays a $0.32 quarterly dividend (≈2.0% yield).

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its position in West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG - Free Report) by 90.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,563 shares of the company's stock after selling 41,622 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s holdings in West Fraser Timber were worth $310,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WFG. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of West Fraser Timber by 3.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 230,878 shares of the company's stock worth $17,764,000 after purchasing an additional 6,640 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of West Fraser Timber by 9.0% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,800 shares of the company's stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber in the second quarter worth approximately $5,248,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of West Fraser Timber by 2.2% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 114,850 shares of the company's stock worth $8,419,000 after purchasing an additional 2,419 shares during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of West Fraser Timber by 2.1% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 23,919 shares of the company's stock worth $1,753,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. 40.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on WFG. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of West Fraser Timber from $91.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of West Fraser Timber from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of West Fraser Timber from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d)" rating on shares of West Fraser Timber in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $82.67.

West Fraser Timber Price Performance

WFG stock opened at $65.40 on Thursday. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has a one year low of $57.34 and a one year high of $78.55. The company's fifty day moving average price is $66.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 2.13. The company has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a PE ratio of -5.37 and a beta of 1.09.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported ($2.42) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.71) by $0.29. West Fraser Timber had a negative net margin of 17.15% and a negative return on equity of 5.69%. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. will post 4.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Fraser Timber Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. West Fraser Timber's dividend payout ratio is presently -10.51%.

West Fraser Timber Profile

West Fraser Timber Co Ltd. NYSE: WFG is a leading North American diversified wood products company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company operates a broad portfolio of manufacturing facilities that produce lumber, engineered wood products such as laminated veneer lumber (LVL), oriented strand board (OSB) and plywood, as well as medium density fibreboard (MDF), particleboard, pulp and paper. West Fraser's integrated production model spans harvesting, milling and finishing, allowing it to serve a wide range of residential, commercial and industrial construction markets.

Founded in 1955 as West Fraser Mills, the company has grown through both organic investment and strategic acquisitions to become one of the largest lumber producers in the world.

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