West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. $WFG Shares Purchased by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) by 58.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 262,556 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 96,414 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in West Fraser Timber were worth $17,845,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in West Fraser Timber by 75.8% in the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in West Fraser Timber by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 19,427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,424,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. grew its position in West Fraser Timber by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. now owns 4,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $294,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of West Fraser Timber by 2.1% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 23,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,753,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WFG. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce downgraded West Fraser Timber from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on West Fraser Timber from $91.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Zacks Research raised shares of West Fraser Timber from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of West Fraser Timber from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, West Fraser Timber has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.67.

West Fraser Timber Price Performance

Shares of WFG traded up $0.56 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $63.99. The stock had a trading volume of 24,272 shares, compared to its average volume of 250,615. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $4.86 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.25 and a beta of 1.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $68.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.48. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has a 52 week low of $57.34 and a 52 week high of $79.22.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported ($2.42) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.71) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. West Fraser Timber had a negative return on equity of 5.69% and a negative net margin of 17.15%. On average, analysts forecast that West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Fraser Timber Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. West Fraser Timber’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -10.51%.

West Fraser Timber 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.