Zacks Research Upgrades West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) to Hold

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

WFG has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on West Fraser Timber from $91.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of West Fraser Timber from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of West Fraser Timber in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lowered shares of West Fraser Timber from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.67.

West Fraser Timber Stock Performance

Shares of WFG stock opened at $64.94 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 2.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.33 and a beta of 1.12. West Fraser Timber has a one year low of $57.34 and a one year high of $80.73. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.08.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported ($2.42) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.71) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. West Fraser Timber had a negative return on equity of 5.69% and a negative net margin of 17.15%. Equities analysts anticipate that West Fraser Timber will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On West Fraser Timber

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in shares of West Fraser Timber by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 7,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in West Fraser Timber by 5.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in West Fraser Timber by 75.8% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in West Fraser Timber by 1.3% during the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 19,427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,424,000 after buying an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of West Fraser Timber by 9.1% in the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. now owns 4,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $294,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.23% of the company’s stock.

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.