Donald Smith & CO. Inc. Purchases New Holdings in West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. $WFG

Donald Smith & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 1,489,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,014,000. West Fraser Timber comprises approximately 1.7% of Donald Smith & CO. Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in West Fraser Timber by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 23,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,753,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in West Fraser Timber by 212.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 780 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in West Fraser Timber by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $571,000 after buying an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in West Fraser Timber by 29.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 3,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its position in West Fraser Timber by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,000 after buying an additional 1,092 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.23% of the company’s stock.

West Fraser Timber Stock Performance

Shares of WFG opened at $66.01 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $64.29 and its 200-day moving average is $65.01. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has a 12 month low of $57.34 and a 12 month high of $78.55. The firm has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.39 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($2.40) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by ($1.17). West Fraser Timber had a negative return on equity of 9.67% and a negative net margin of 21.86%.The business had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. Equities analysts expect that West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. will post -3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Fraser Timber Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 25th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. West Fraser Timber’s dividend payout ratio is -8.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WFG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research report on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of West Fraser Timber from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Fraser Mackenzie cut their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.60.

About West Fraser Timber

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.