West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Plans $0.32 Quarterly Dividend

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, June 11th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, June 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.32 per share on Monday, July 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 26th.

West Fraser Timber has a payout ratio of 21.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect West Fraser Timber to earn $7.53 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.0%.

West Fraser Timber Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE WFG opened at $76.84 on Friday. West Fraser Timber has a twelve month low of $69.48 and a twelve month high of $102.40. The firm has a market cap of $5.91 billion, a P/E ratio of -365.90 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day moving average of $74.24 and a 200 day moving average of $80.92.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.15). West Fraser Timber had a positive return on equity of 0.88% and a negative net margin of 0.08%. The firm had revenue of $1.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that West Fraser Timber will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On West Fraser Timber

An institutional investor recently raised its position in West Fraser Timber stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) by 3.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 230,878 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,640 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned about 0.30% of West Fraser Timber worth $17,764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. 40.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WFG shares. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of West Fraser Timber from $105.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $109.00 to $100.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. TD Securities decreased their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $99.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of West Fraser Timber from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of West Fraser Timber from $117.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.40.

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.