Louisiana-Pacific Co. (NYSE:LPX) Short Interest Update

Louisiana-Pacific Co. (NYSE:LPX - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,740,000 shares, a drop of 17.9% from the March 15th total of 2,120,000 shares. Currently, 2.5% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 684,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Louisiana-Pacific Stock Up 4.6 %

NYSE LPX traded up $3.87 on Wednesday, reaching $87.98. 17,805 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 739,248. Louisiana-Pacific has a 12 month low of $72.06 and a 12 month high of $122.87. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $92.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $104.17. The company has a market cap of $6.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.96, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.86.

Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE:LPX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The building manufacturing company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $681.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $666.75 million. Louisiana-Pacific had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 25.35%. Louisiana-Pacific's revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Louisiana-Pacific will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Louisiana-Pacific Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. This is a boost from Louisiana-Pacific's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Louisiana-Pacific's dividend payout ratio is presently 19.05%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Louisiana-Pacific

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Louisiana-Pacific by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,087,989 shares of the building manufacturing company's stock valued at $733,961,000 after purchasing an additional 132,891 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Louisiana-Pacific by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,708,649 shares of the building manufacturing company's stock worth $384,031,000 after acquiring an additional 540,703 shares in the last quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP raised its stake in Louisiana-Pacific by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 1,982,826 shares of the building manufacturing company's stock worth $205,322,000 after acquiring an additional 235,069 shares in the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP increased its stake in Louisiana-Pacific by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 1,445,106 shares of the building manufacturing company's stock valued at $149,641,000 after purchasing an additional 102,897 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in Louisiana-Pacific by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,266,145 shares of the building manufacturing company's stock valued at $131,109,000 after purchasing an additional 24,285 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LPX. TD Securities lowered their target price on Louisiana-Pacific from $123.00 to $117.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Louisiana-Pacific from $125.00 to $123.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Louisiana-Pacific from $126.00 to $112.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Louisiana-Pacific from $117.00 to $110.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Louisiana-Pacific from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Louisiana-Pacific currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $108.63.

Louisiana-Pacific Company Profile

Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides building solutions primarily for use in new home construction, repair and remodeling, and outdoor structure markets. It operates through Siding, Oriented Strand Board, LP South America, and Other segments. The Siding segment offers LP SmartSide trim and siding products, LP SmartSide ExpertFinish trim and siding products, LP BuilderSeries lap siding products, and LP Outdoor Building Solutions; and engineered wood siding, trim, soffit, and fascia products.