Legal & General Group Plc Sells 74,990 Shares of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. $WFG

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) by 40.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 111,957 shares of the company’s stock after selling 74,990 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.15% of West Fraser Timber worth $6,858,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,174,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,829,000 after acquiring an additional 22,443 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 89.5% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,720,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,910,000 after acquiring an additional 812,474 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 846,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,871,000 after acquiring an additional 9,945 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in West Fraser Timber by 52.4% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 353,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,027,000 after buying an additional 121,599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lightrock Netherlands B.V. boosted its position in West Fraser Timber by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. now owns 320,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,574,000 after buying an additional 44,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WFG. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $86.00 target price on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of West Fraser Timber from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Fraser Mackenzie cut their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.60.

West Fraser Timber Stock Performance

NYSE:WFG opened at $65.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.39 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $64.17 and its 200-day moving average is $64.81. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has a 1-year low of $57.34 and a 1-year high of $78.55.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($2.40) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by ($1.17). The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. West Fraser Timber had a negative return on equity of 9.67% and a negative net margin of 21.86%. Equities research analysts anticipate that West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. will post -3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

West Fraser Timber Company Profile

West Fraser Timber Co Ltd. (NYSE: WFG) is a leading North American diversified wood products company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company operates a broad portfolio of manufacturing facilities that produce lumber, engineered wood products such as laminated veneer lumber (LVL), oriented strand board (OSB) and plywood, as well as medium density fibreboard (MDF), particleboard, pulp and paper. West Fraser’s integrated production model spans harvesting, milling and finishing, allowing it to serve a wide range of residential, commercial and industrial construction markets.

Founded in 1955 as West Fraser Mills, the company has grown through both organic investment and strategic acquisitions to become one of the largest lumber producers in the world.