BMO Capital Markets Boosts West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) Price Target to $115.00

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG - Free Report) had its target price boosted by BMO Capital Markets from $105.00 to $115.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $107.60.

West Fraser Timber Trading Down 0.5 %

WFG stock traded down $0.45 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $94.02. The company had a trading volume of 185,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 159,173. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.49. West Fraser Timber has a 52 week low of $64.11 and a 52 week high of $102.40. The business has a 50 day moving average of $92.37 and a 200 day moving average of $84.16. The company has a market cap of $7.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -77.70 and a beta of 1.16.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.29 by ($0.09). West Fraser Timber had a return on equity of 3.83% and a net margin of 2.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.03) EPS. The firm's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that West Fraser Timber will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Fraser Timber Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th were paid a $0.237 dividend. This represents a $0.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 26th. West Fraser Timber's payout ratio is -77.69%.

Institutional Trading of West Fraser Timber

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 77.4% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 880 shares of the company's stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in shares of West Fraser Timber by 7.5% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 571,583 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,683,000 after buying an additional 39,651 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in West Fraser Timber by 69.8% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,059 shares of the company's stock worth $687,000 after buying an additional 2,901 shares during the last quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. lifted its stake in West Fraser Timber by 816.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 13,386 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,306,000 after acquiring an additional 11,925 shares during the period. Finally, Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of West Fraser Timber during the 2nd quarter valued at about $387,000. 40.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.