West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) Rating Reiterated by Royal Bank of Canada

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $97.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 11.49% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on WFG. Raymond James increased their target price on West Fraser Timber from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Scotiabank set a $100.00 price objective on West Fraser Timber and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.92.

West Fraser Timber Trading Up 0.2 %

West Fraser Timber stock traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $87.00. 55,261 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 122,770. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.91 billion, a P/E ratio of -40.43 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 2.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. West Fraser Timber has a fifty-two week low of $64.11 and a fifty-two week high of $90.17.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.28) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter. West Fraser Timber had a positive return on equity of 1.29% and a negative net margin of 2.59%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that West Fraser Timber will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On West Fraser Timber

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in West Fraser Timber by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,212,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,845,000 after acquiring an additional 47,956 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 21.5% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,818,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,239,000 after acquiring an additional 499,381 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in West Fraser Timber in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $116,809,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,144,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,984,000 after acquiring an additional 272,283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. increased its stake in West Fraser Timber by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. now owns 1,134,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,533,000 after acquiring an additional 9,336 shares during the last quarter. 40.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About West Fraser Timber

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.