Donald Smith & CO. Inc. Takes Position in West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. $WFG

Donald Smith & CO. Inc. acquired a new stake in West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,489,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,014,000. West Fraser Timber makes up about 1.7% of Donald Smith & CO. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. owned approximately 1.96% of West Fraser Timber at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 212.0% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Jain Global LLC bought a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber in the third quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of West Fraser Timber by 29.8% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 3,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FourThought Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber in the third quarter valued at approximately $303,000. 40.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

West Fraser Timber Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:WFG opened at $66.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a PE ratio of -4.39 and a beta of 0.99. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has a 52 week low of $57.34 and a 52 week high of $78.55. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.01.

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

West Fraser Timber Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 25th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 25th. West Fraser Timber’s dividend payout ratio is -8.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFG has been the subject of several recent research reports. 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 for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $86.00 target price on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Fraser Mackenzie cut their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered shares of West Fraser Timber from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, West Fraser Timber presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.60.

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.