Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) Short Interest Up 24.7% in March

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,820,000 shares, a growth of 24.7% from the February 28th total of 8,680,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,730,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days. Approximately 1.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Townsquare Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser during the 3rd quarter valued at $297,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Weyerhaeuser by 25.0% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 126,566 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,286,000 after purchasing an additional 25,308 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in Weyerhaeuser by 13.6% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 84,245 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,853,000 after purchasing an additional 10,095 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in Weyerhaeuser during the third quarter worth about $1,282,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. increased its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 2,452.7% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 14,091 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 13,539 shares during the period. 82.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Weyerhaeuser Stock Performance

Shares of Weyerhaeuser stock traded down $0.18 on Tuesday, hitting $29.11. The stock had a trading volume of 4,859,620 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,627,710. The stock has a market cap of $21.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50 day moving average is $29.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Weyerhaeuser has a twelve month low of $26.73 and a twelve month high of $35.50.

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. Weyerhaeuser had a return on equity of 3.86% and a net margin of 5.56%. Analysts forecast that Weyerhaeuser will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Weyerhaeuser Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. This is an increase from Weyerhaeuser’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Weyerhaeuser’s payout ratio is currently 152.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WY shares. CIBC upgraded shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Weyerhaeuser from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Weyerhaeuser from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James raised Weyerhaeuser from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Weyerhaeuser in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Weyerhaeuser presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.00.

Weyerhaeuser Company Profile

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.