West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Raises Dividend to $0.32 Per Share

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 11th,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of 0.32 per share on Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This is a positive change from West Fraser Timber’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.

West Fraser Timber has raised its dividend by an average of 26.2% per year over the last three years. West Fraser Timber has a dividend payout ratio of 26.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect West Fraser Timber to earn $5.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.2%.

West Fraser Timber Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of West Fraser Timber stock traded down $2.68 on Friday, hitting $89.49. 246,643 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 157,982. West Fraser Timber has a 12-month low of $73.91 and a 12-month high of $102.40. The company has a market cap of $7.18 billion, a PE ratio of -69.96 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $95.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.96.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported ($1.03) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.16) by ($0.87). West Fraser Timber had a negative net margin of 1.53% and a positive return on equity of 0.53%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.81 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that West Fraser Timber will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WFG shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on West Fraser Timber from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of West Fraser Timber from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.60.

West Fraser Timber Company Profile

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.