Russell Investments Group Ltd. Buys 678,539 Shares of Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) by 29.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,000,255 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 678,539 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.41% of Weyerhaeuser worth $84,423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Weyerhaeuser by 290.9% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,239 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 922 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Weyerhaeuser during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Weyerhaeuser during the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in Weyerhaeuser by 41.2% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Weyerhaeuser Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WY opened at $26.22 on Friday. Weyerhaeuser has a 12-month low of $26.07 and a 12-month high of $35.08. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $29.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.58. The firm has a market cap of $19.03 billion, a PE ratio of 47.67, a PEG ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 1.25. 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 (NYSE:WY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Weyerhaeuser will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Weyerhaeuser Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. This is a boost from Weyerhaeuser’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Weyerhaeuser’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 152.73%.

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.