IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd Cuts Stake in Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY)

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd cut its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) by 60.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 29,796 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 45,250 shares during the period. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd’s holdings in Weyerhaeuser were worth $839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Weyerhaeuser by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,755,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,210,694,000 after acquiring an additional 4,035,048 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 2.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,407,646 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,063,463,000 after buying an additional 761,757 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,534,058 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $659,422,000 after buying an additional 217,510 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 14,362,306 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $404,299,000 after buying an additional 158,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Weyerhaeuser by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,986,081 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $252,958,000 after buying an additional 245,962 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on WY shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 price target on shares of Weyerhaeuser in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James upgraded shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Weyerhaeuser from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Weyerhaeuser from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, CIBC raised Weyerhaeuser from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.00.

Weyerhaeuser Stock Performance

NYSE:WY opened at $29.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.79. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.48 billion, a PE ratio of 53.82, a P/E/G ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 1.43. Weyerhaeuser has a 52-week low of $26.73 and a 52-week high of $36.27.

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. Weyerhaeuser had a return on equity of 3.86% and a net margin of 5.56%. Analysts forecast that Weyerhaeuser will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Weyerhaeuser Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Weyerhaeuser’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. Weyerhaeuser’s dividend payout ratio is 152.73%.

Weyerhaeuser 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.