West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Receives $100.40 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the five research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $100.40.

WFG has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Securities dropped their price target on West Fraser Timber from $99.00 to $98.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of West Fraser Timber from $117.00 to $99.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of West Fraser Timber from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, June 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $105.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On West Fraser Timber

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of West Fraser Timber by 35.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,041,873 shares of the company's stock worth $436,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319,843 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in West Fraser Timber by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,980,619 shares of the company's stock worth $257,974,000 after acquiring an additional 8,760 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,876,409 shares of the company's stock valued at $220,931,000 after acquiring an additional 29,746 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in West Fraser Timber by 10.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,394,607 shares of the company's stock valued at $184,242,000 after purchasing an additional 232,558 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in West Fraser Timber by 5.0% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,425,094 shares of the company's stock worth $109,647,000 after purchasing an additional 68,016 shares during the last quarter. 40.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

West Fraser Timber Stock Performance

Shares of West Fraser Timber stock traded up $1.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $77.18. 284,025 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 173,616. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $74.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.96. West Fraser Timber has a 52 week low of $69.48 and a 52 week high of $102.40. The company has a market cap of $5.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -454.00 and a beta of 1.15.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.15). West Fraser Timber had a net margin of 0.03% and a return on equity of 0.99%. The company had revenue of $1.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that West Fraser Timber will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current year.

West Fraser Timber Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 26th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. West Fraser Timber's payout ratio is -752.94%.

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.