Weyerhaeuser Company $WY Shares Sold by Rafferty Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC has reduced its stake in Weyerhaeuser Company by 17.3%, selling 16,502 shares, leaving them with a total of 79,111 shares now valued at approximately $2.3 million.
• Several analysts have downgraded Weyerhaeuser's stock ratings and target prices, with JPMorgan lowering its target from $32 to $30, and Citigroup from $35 to $31, while the average rating remains a "Moderate Buy".
• Weyerhaeuser has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share with a dividend yield of 3.2%, despite having a high payout ratio of 221.05%.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY - Free Report) by 17.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,111 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 16,502 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Weyerhaeuser were worth $2,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Weyerhaeuser in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Weyerhaeuser in the first quarter worth $29,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Weyerhaeuser during the first quarter worth $31,000. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new position in Weyerhaeuser during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser in the first quarter valued at $36,000. 82.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Sara Grootwassink Lewis bought 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.29 per share, with a total value of $101,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 21,478 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $543,178.62. The trade was a 22.89% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Weyerhaeuser Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of NYSE:WY traded up $0.61 on Thursday, reaching $25.43. The company had a trading volume of 2,020,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,061,904. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.34 billion, a PE ratio of 66.91, a PEG ratio of 79.23 and a beta of 1.07. Weyerhaeuser Company has a 52-week low of $24.10 and a 52-week high of $34.03. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $25.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.83.

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

Weyerhaeuser announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 8th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the real estate investment trust to buy up to 5.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Weyerhaeuser Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. Weyerhaeuser's payout ratio is 221.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Weyerhaeuser from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Weyerhaeuser from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Weyerhaeuser from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Sunday, August 3rd. Citigroup dropped 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. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on Weyerhaeuser from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.