BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Sells 81,394 Shares of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp decreased its stake in shares of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) by 74.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,195 shares of the company’s stock after selling 81,394 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in West Fraser Timber were worth $2,747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in West Fraser Timber during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,886,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in West Fraser Timber in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $368,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in West Fraser Timber by 19.2% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 34,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,615,000 after acquiring an additional 5,495 shares in the last quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. boosted its position in West Fraser Timber by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 692,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,229,000 after acquiring an additional 91,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of West Fraser Timber by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 53,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,146,000 after acquiring an additional 5,644 shares in the last quarter. 40.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on WFG shares. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of West Fraser Timber from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.60.

West Fraser Timber Price Performance

Shares of WFG stock opened at $94.81 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $95.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.46. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has a one year low of $72.56 and a one year high of $102.40. The stock has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -74.07 and a beta of 1.19.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported ($1.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by ($0.87). The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. West Fraser Timber had a negative net margin of 1.53% and a positive return on equity of 0.53%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. will post 0.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Fraser Timber Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th were issued a dividend of $0.237 per share. This represents a $0.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 26th. West Fraser Timber’s payout ratio is presently -74.22%.

West Fraser Timber Company Profile

West Fraser Timber Co Ltd., a diversified wood products company, engages in manufacturing, selling, marketing, and distributing lumber, engineered wood products, pulp, newsprint, wood chips, and other residuals and renewable energy. It offers spruce-pine-fir, douglas fir-larch, hem-fir, and southern yellow pine lumber, treated wood products, medium density fiberboard panels and plywood, oriented strand board, and laminated veneer lumber wood products, as well as particleboards.