Stella-Jones (TSE:SJ) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

Stella-Jones Inc. (TSE:SJ) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as C$67.23 and last traded at C$67.02, with a volume of 83778 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$68.92.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SJ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Securities lowered their target price on shares of Stella-Jones from C$103.00 to C$88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Stella-Jones from C$97.00 to C$81.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Stella-Jones from C$95.00 to C$85.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, CIBC lowered their price target on shares of Stella-Jones from C$99.00 to C$83.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Stella-Jones presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$88.00.

Stella-Jones Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of C$3.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 93.08, a current ratio of 6.57 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average of C$72.31 and a 200 day moving average of C$84.20.

Stella-Jones Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Stella-Jones’s payout ratio is presently 18.09%.

Insider Transactions at Stella-Jones

In other news, Senior Officer Richard Cuddihy acquired 500 shares of Stella-Jones stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$70.85 per share, for a total transaction of C$35,424.00. Also, Director Patrick Kirkham bought 2,035 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of C$70.36 per share, for a total transaction of C$143,179.34. Insiders bought 12,785 shares of company stock worth $896,221 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

About Stella-Jones

Stella-Jones Inc produces and sells lumber and wood products. The company operates in two segments: Pressure-treated wood, which includes utility poles, railway ties, residential lumber, and industrial products; and Logs & Lumber segment comprises of the sales of logs harvested in the course of the company’s procurement process that is determined to be unsuitable for use as utility poles, it also includes the sale of excess lumber to local home-building markets.