Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 4,173,935 Weyerhaeuser Company $WY

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 4,173,935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $101,969,000. Weyerhaeuser accounts for 1.4% of Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WY. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Weyerhaeuser during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in Weyerhaeuser by 83.4% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 1,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 757 shares in the last quarter. Bayban bought a new stake in Weyerhaeuser during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Costello Asset Management INC raised its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 118.9% during the fourth quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 1,797 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the period. Finally, Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. bought a new stake in Weyerhaeuser during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. 82.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $28.00 price objective on Weyerhaeuser in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of Weyerhaeuser in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Weyerhaeuser from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Weyerhaeuser from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of Weyerhaeuser from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.11.

Weyerhaeuser Price Performance

Shares of WY traded up $0.97 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $23.47. 6,520,157 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,395,314. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $23.98 and a 200-day moving average of $24.61. Weyerhaeuser Company has a 52 week low of $21.16 and a 52 week high of $27.75. The stock has a market cap of $16.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.47, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.07. Weyerhaeuser had a return on equity of 1.45% and a net margin of 5.78%.The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Weyerhaeuser Company will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Weyerhaeuser Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Weyerhaeuser’s dividend payout ratio is currently 155.56%.

About Weyerhaeuser

Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE: WY) is a leading integrated forest products company whose core businesses are timberland ownership and forest products manufacturing. The company owns and manages large tracts of timberland and harvests, processes and sells wood and wood-derived products used primarily in residential and industrial construction. Its manufacturing operations produce a range of building materials, including lumber, engineered wood products and wood panels, alongside fiber-based products that serve multiple commercial applications.

Founded in 1900 by Frederick Weyerhaeuser and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company has a long history in the North American forest products industry.