Invesco Ltd. Grows Position in West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. $WFG

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. by 44.5%, acquiring an additional 34,599 shares during the first quarter.
• West Fraser Timber reported a negative EPS of ($0.38) for the quarter, missing analyst expectations, and had a revenue of $1.53 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share, with a yield of 1.7%, despite a negative dividend payout ratio of -73.14%.

Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG - Free Report) by 44.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 112,431 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 34,599 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.15% of West Fraser Timber worth $8,650,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WFG. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in West Fraser Timber in the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in West Fraser Timber by 7,588.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 692 shares of the company's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 683 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in West Fraser Timber by 6.9% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 2,806 shares of the company's stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in West Fraser Timber in the first quarter worth about $251,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of West Fraser Timber by 21.5% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 3,057 shares of the company's stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.23% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

West Fraser Timber Price Performance

NYSE:WFG traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $72.72. 240,803 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 259,846. The company has a market cap of $5.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.55 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has a 1 year low of $68.63 and a 1 year high of $102.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $73.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.00.

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

West Fraser Timber Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 26th were paid a $0.32 dividend. 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 (DPR) 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.