Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. Decreases Position in Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY)

Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its holdings in Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 393,639 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,621 shares during the quarter. Weyerhaeuser accounts for 1.6% of Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. owned 0.05% of Weyerhaeuser worth $11,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WY. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Weyerhaeuser in the third quarter valued at about $440,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 11.8% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 457,002 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,474,000 after acquiring an additional 48,137 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 5.2% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 43,106 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after acquiring an additional 2,129 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 7.2% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 159,987 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,417,000 after acquiring an additional 10,798 shares during the period. Finally, Mutual of America Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 5.3% in the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 189,758 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,425,000 after acquiring an additional 9,569 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WY shares. CIBC upgraded shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Weyerhaeuser in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Weyerhaeuser presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.00.

Weyerhaeuser Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:WY opened at $29.90 on Thursday. Weyerhaeuser has a one year low of $26.73 and a one year high of $36.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.37, a PEG ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 1.43.

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

Weyerhaeuser Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Weyerhaeuser’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Weyerhaeuser’s dividend payout ratio is currently 152.73%.

About Weyerhaeuser

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.