Natixis Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Weyerhaeuser Company by 26.8%, owning a total of 222,217 shares valued at approximately $6.5 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Weyerhaeuser Company is facing a mix of ratings from analysts, with two analysts rating it as "sell", while others have assigned a "buy" or "hold" rating, leading to a consensus target price of $32.88.
• The company recently initiated a share buyback plan, authorizing up to $1 billion to repurchase shares, which indicates management's belief that its stock is undervalued.

Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY - Free Report) by 26.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 222,217 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 46,967 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in Weyerhaeuser were worth $6,507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in Weyerhaeuser by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 19,932 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $584,000 after buying an additional 1,480 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 74,154 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,524 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Weyerhaeuser by 232.0% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 9,476 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 6,622 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Weyerhaeuser by 85.7% in the first quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 37,129 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,087,000 after acquiring an additional 17,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional purchased a new stake in Weyerhaeuser during the first quarter valued at about $119,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company's stock.

Weyerhaeuser Stock Up 0.5%

Weyerhaeuser stock traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $25.67. 3,129,527 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,099,286. Weyerhaeuser Company has a one year low of $24.10 and a one year high of $34.03. The company has a market cap of $18.52 billion, a PE ratio of 67.56, a PEG ratio of 67.48 and a beta of 1.08. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $26.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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

Weyerhaeuser announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 8th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the real estate investment trust to purchase up to 5.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WY. Citigroup cut their price objective on Weyerhaeuser from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. CIBC cut their price target on shares of Weyerhaeuser from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an "outperformer" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Weyerhaeuser from a "strong-buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Weyerhaeuser from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Weyerhaeuser from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Sunday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Weyerhaeuser has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $32.88.

Weyerhaeuser 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.