Brokerages Set Stella-Jones Inc. (TSE:SJ) PT at C$88.71

Shares of Stella-Jones Inc. (TSE:SJ) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$88.71.

SJ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Stella-Jones from C$91.00 to C$94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. National Bankshares increased their price target on Stella-Jones from C$87.00 to C$89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. CIBC increased their price objective on Stella-Jones from C$85.00 to C$86.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Stella-Jones from C$89.00 to C$86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, TD Securities dropped their price objective on Stella-Jones from C$96.00 to C$94.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 1st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kevin Patrick Comerford purchased 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of C$53.39 per share, for a total transaction of C$69,407.00. In related news, Senior Officer Richard Cuddihy bought 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$72.45 per share, for a total transaction of C$36,225.00. Also, Director Kevin Patrick Comerford purchased 1,300 shares of Stella-Jones stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of C$53.39 per share, with a total value of C$69,407.00. Insiders bought 3,800 shares of company stock worth $251,922 over the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Stella-Jones Stock Performance

TSE SJ opened at C$80.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of C$4.54 billion, a PE ratio of 14.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 5.07, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 97.46. Stella-Jones has a twelve month low of C$52.74 and a twelve month high of C$85.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of C$78.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$78.15.

Stella-Jones (TSE:SJ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported C$0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$0.90 by C$0.08. Stella-Jones had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 9.82%. The firm had revenue of C$688.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$722.50 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Stella-Jones will post 5.7169407 earnings per share for the current year.

Stella-Jones Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Stella-Jones’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. Stella-Jones’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.93%.

About Stella-Jones

Stella-Jones Inc produces and sells pressure-treated wood products in Canada and the United States. It operates through two segments, Pressure-Treated Wood; and Logs and Lumber. The company offers railway ties and timbers for short line and commercial railroad operators; and wood utility poles for electrical utilities and telecommunication companies.