Norges Bank Buys Shares of 648,266 West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. $WFG

Norges Bank bought a new stake in West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 648,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,660,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 0.85% of West Fraser Timber at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in West Fraser Timber by 212.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Jain Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber during the 3rd quarter valued at about $224,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber during the 4th quarter valued at about $229,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of West Fraser Timber by 29.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 3,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FourThought Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of West Fraser Timber during the 3rd quarter valued at about $303,000. 40.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of West Fraser Timber from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Fraser Mackenzie cut their price target on shares of West Fraser Timber from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $86.00 price target on shares of West Fraser Timber in a research note on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of West Fraser Timber from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of West Fraser Timber from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.60.

West Fraser Timber Stock Down 1.8%

WFG opened at $64.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $64.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.90. The company has a market cap of $5.07 billion, a PE ratio of -4.31 and a beta of 0.99. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has a 1 year low of $57.34 and a 1 year high of $78.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.84.

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

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.