West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $82.60.

A number of research firms have recently commented on WFG. Fraser Mackenzie cut their price objective on shares of West Fraser Timber from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen dropped 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 report on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of West Fraser Timber from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped 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 report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $86.00 target price on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research report on Friday, May 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On West Fraser Timber

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in West Fraser Timber by 28.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,613,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,799,000 after purchasing an additional 802,477 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in West Fraser Timber by 10.3% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,450,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,306,000 after purchasing an additional 321,102 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in West Fraser Timber by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,174,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,829,000 after purchasing an additional 22,443 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in West Fraser Timber by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,836,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,668,000 after purchasing an additional 116,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Donald Smith & CO. Inc. bought a new stake in West Fraser Timber during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $91,014,000. 40.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

West Fraser Timber Price Performance

WFG stock opened at $68.95 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $63.67 and a 200-day moving average of $64.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. West Fraser Timber has a 12 month low of $57.34 and a 12 month high of $78.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.58 and a beta of 0.97.

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

About West Fraser Timber

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.