Short Interest in Louisiana-Pacific Co. (NYSE:LPX) Drops By 17.9%

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have 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 report on Thursday, February 20th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Louisiana-Pacific from $125.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Louisiana-Pacific from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Louisiana-Pacific from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price target on Louisiana-Pacific from $117.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Louisiana-Pacific currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.50.

Louisiana-Pacific Price Performance

LPX stock traded down $1.82 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $82.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 298,160 shares, compared to its average volume of 743,436. Louisiana-Pacific has a 12 month low of $71.95 and a 12 month high of $122.87. The company has a 50 day moving average of $93.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.86.

Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE:LPX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The building manufacturing company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.24. Louisiana-Pacific had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 25.35%. The business had revenue of $681.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $666.75 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Louisiana-Pacific will post 5.27 EPS for the current year.

Louisiana-Pacific Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from Louisiana-Pacific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. Louisiana-Pacific’s payout ratio is presently 19.05%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Louisiana-Pacific

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Louisiana-Pacific by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 36,089 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock worth $3,877,000 after purchasing an additional 6,011 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Louisiana-Pacific in the third quarter worth about $201,000. Arvest Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in shares of Louisiana-Pacific during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,000,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Louisiana-Pacific during the third quarter valued at approximately $323,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Louisiana-Pacific by 35.0% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 28,623 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock worth $3,076,000 after buying an additional 7,419 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.73% of the company’s stock.

About Louisiana-Pacific

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.