West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. $WFG Shares Acquired by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. increased its holdings in West Fraser Timber by 10.8% during the first quarter, now owning approximately 3.10% of the company valued at around $184.2 million.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on West Fraser Timber, with Raymond James maintaining a "market perform" rating and TD Securities reducing their target price from $98 to $96 while still rating the stock as a "buy."
• West Fraser Timber reported a loss of $0.38 per share in its latest earnings results, which missed the consensus estimate, and has an annualized dividend yield of 1.7% following its recent dividend payout.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG - Free Report) by 10.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,394,607 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 232,558 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 3.10% of West Fraser Timber worth $184,242,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 126,605 shares of the company's stock worth $9,723,000 after buying an additional 11,924 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 33.3% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,263 shares of the company's stock worth $1,249,000 after buying an additional 4,061 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 23,900 shares of the company's stock worth $1,836,000 after buying an additional 3,700 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 2,806 shares of the company's stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 134.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,159 shares of the company's stock worth $550,000 after buying an additional 4,102 shares during the period. 40.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on WFG. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of West Fraser Timber in a report on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered West Fraser Timber from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, TD Securities cut their target price on West Fraser Timber from $98.00 to $96.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $100.00.

West Fraser Timber Stock Up 0.6%

NYSE:WFG traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $72.72. 240,803 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 211,710. The company has a fifty day moving average of $73.60 and a 200 day moving average of $75.09. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has a twelve month low of $68.63 and a twelve month high of $102.40. The company has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -41.55 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.89.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The company reported ($0.38) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.74). West Fraser Timber had a negative net margin of 2.18% and a negative return on equity of 0.85%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. On average, analysts forecast that West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. will post 4.45 EPS for the current year.

West Fraser Timber Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 26th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 26th. West Fraser Timber's dividend payout ratio is currently -73.14%.

About West Fraser Timber

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.