Russell Investments Group Ltd. Decreases Holdings in Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY)

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its stake in Weyerhaeuser Company by 5.7% in the first quarter, now owning approximately 0.39% of the company's shares.
• Weyerhaeuser recently reported a $0.12 EPS for the quarter, surpassing estimates but showing a 2.8% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.
• The company announced a $1.00 billion share buyback program as a sign of confidence in its stock value, along with a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. cut its position in shares of Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,829,583 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 170,672 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.39% of Weyerhaeuser worth $82,861,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WY. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Weyerhaeuser by 0.7% during the first quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 129,843 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,805,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Weyerhaeuser by 7.8% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 356,078 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $10,426,000 after acquiring an additional 25,728 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in Weyerhaeuser by 59.1% during the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 300,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $8,784,000 after acquiring an additional 111,454 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its stake in Weyerhaeuser by 6.6% during the first quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 9,286 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clean Energy Transition LLP bought a new position in Weyerhaeuser during the first quarter worth $55,429,000. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Weyerhaeuser

In other news, Director Sara Grootwassink Lewis purchased 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost 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. This trade represents a 22.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Weyerhaeuser Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of WY traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $26.31. 3,300,921 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,671,673. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.26. Weyerhaeuser Company has a 52 week low of $24.10 and a 52 week high of $34.03. The company has a market cap of $18.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.25, a PEG ratio of 76.52 and a beta of 1.08.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.02. Weyerhaeuser had a net margin of 3.97% and a return on equity of 2.95%. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Weyerhaeuser Company will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Weyerhaeuser announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 8th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the real estate investment trust to reacquire up to 5.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Weyerhaeuser Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. Weyerhaeuser's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 221.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Weyerhaeuser from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. CIBC cut their target price on shares of Weyerhaeuser from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an "outperformer" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Weyerhaeuser from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Sunday, August 3rd. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Weyerhaeuser from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Weyerhaeuser from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $32.88.

Weyerhaeuser Company 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.