Traders Buy Large Volume of Weyerhaeuser Put Options (NYSE:WY)

Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors acquired 3,277 put options on the company. This is an increase of 65% compared to the average volume of 1,992 put options.

Weyerhaeuser Price Performance

Shares of Weyerhaeuser stock traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $22.39. 2,222,190 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,383,358. Weyerhaeuser has a fifty-two week low of $21.16 and a fifty-two week high of $32.70. The company has a market cap of $16.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 244.04 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.13. Weyerhaeuser had a return on equity of 2.95% and a net margin of 3.97%.The company had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.05 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Weyerhaeuser will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Weyerhaeuser Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 28th. Weyerhaeuser’s payout ratio is presently 186.67%.

Institutional Trading of Weyerhaeuser

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 4.2% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,178 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Weyerhaeuser by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 29,419 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $756,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. BOKF NA lifted its holdings in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 10,503 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $260,000 after buying an additional 463 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,557 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 3.5% during the first quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 14,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. 82.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Weyerhaeuser from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. CIBC decreased their target price on Weyerhaeuser from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperformer” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Zacks Research raised Weyerhaeuser from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Wall Street Zen cut Weyerhaeuser from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Weyerhaeuser from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Weyerhaeuser has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.78.

About Weyerhaeuser

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.