West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Friday . The stock traded as low as $71.29 and last traded at $71.56, with a volume of 56339 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $74.34.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on WFG shares. Scotiabank dropped their price objective 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 cut their price target on West Fraser Timber from $120.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price objective on West Fraser Timber from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $106.00.

West Fraser Timber Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $5.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -350.10 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.29.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.55) by $0.63. West Fraser Timber had a positive return on equity of 0.88% and a negative net margin of 0.08%. As a group, analysts expect that West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. will post 4.45 EPS for the current year.

West Fraser Timber Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. West Fraser Timber’s payout ratio is -609.52%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On West Fraser Timber

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WFG. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in West Fraser Timber by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis raised its holdings in West Fraser Timber by 61.8% in the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 1,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 613 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.23% of the company’s stock.

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.