Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases Shares of 33,151 West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. $WFG

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 33,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,243,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in West Fraser Timber by 72.2% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 439 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. EFG International AG acquired a new position in West Fraser Timber in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in West Fraser Timber by 177.0% during the 1st quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 579 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Aegis Financial Corp bought a new position in West Fraser Timber during the 1st quarter worth about $205,000. Finally, Jain Global LLC acquired a new stake in shares of West Fraser Timber in the 3rd quarter valued at about $224,000. Institutional investors own 40.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on WFG shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded West Fraser Timber from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on West Fraser Timber from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings downgraded West Fraser Timber from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of West Fraser Timber from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.20.

West Fraser Timber Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of NYSE:WFG opened at $68.89 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $68.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.38. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has a one year low of $57.34 and a one year high of $76.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.39 billion, a PE ratio of -4.46 and a beta of 1.00.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.78) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.70) by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. West Fraser Timber had a negative net margin of 22.98% and a negative return on equity of 10.84%. On average, equities analysts forecast that West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. will post -3.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Fraser Timber Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 25th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 25th. West Fraser Timber’s payout ratio is presently -8.29%.

West Fraser Timber Profile

West Fraser Timber Co Ltd. (NYSE: WFG) is a leading North American diversified wood products company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company operates a broad portfolio of manufacturing facilities that produce lumber, engineered wood products such as laminated veneer lumber (LVL), oriented strand board (OSB) and plywood, as well as medium density fibreboard (MDF), particleboard, pulp and paper. West Fraser’s integrated production model spans harvesting, milling and finishing, allowing it to serve a wide range of residential, commercial and industrial construction markets.

Founded in 1955 as West Fraser Mills, the company has grown through both organic investment and strategic acquisitions to become one of the largest lumber producers in the world.