Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE:LPX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE:LPX) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $106.3333.

A number of analysts recently commented on LPX shares. TD Securities decreased their price target on Louisiana-Pacific from $97.00 to $91.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Louisiana-Pacific in a report on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $104.00 price objective on shares of Louisiana-Pacific in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $117.00 target price on shares of Louisiana-Pacific in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Louisiana-Pacific in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company.

Louisiana-Pacific Price Performance

LPX opened at $85.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The company has a market capitalization of $5.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.77 and a beta of 1.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $88.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.52. Louisiana-Pacific has a 1 year low of $73.42 and a 1 year high of $103.81.

Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE:LPX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The building manufacturing company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.09. Louisiana-Pacific had a net margin of 5.39% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The company had revenue of $567.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $589.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Louisiana-Pacific will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Louisiana-Pacific Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. This is a positive change from Louisiana-Pacific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Louisiana-Pacific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO William Bradley Southern sold 55,346 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.66, for a total transaction of $5,073,014.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 503,381 shares in the company, valued at $46,139,902.46. This represents a 9.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 155,842 shares of company stock valued at $13,912,978. 1.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Louisiana-Pacific

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LPX. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Louisiana-Pacific by 35.4% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,459 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock worth $602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,952 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC bought a new position in shares of Louisiana-Pacific during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $665,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Louisiana-Pacific during the 4th quarter worth approximately $810,000. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Louisiana-Pacific during the 4th quarter valued at $58,000. Finally, truNorth Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Louisiana-Pacific in the fourth quarter worth about $339,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.73% of the company’s stock.

About Louisiana-Pacific

Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE: LPX) is a leading manufacturer of building materials and engineered wood products for residential, industrial and light commercial construction. The company produces a diverse portfolio of products, including oriented strand board (OSB), engineered wood siding, trim, molding, sheathing panels and subflooring. Its flagship product lines, such as LP® SmartSide® trim and siding, are designed to offer enhanced durability, moisture resistance and ease of installation, helping builders and homeowners achieve long-lasting performance in a variety of climates.

Founded in 1973 as a spin-off from Georgia-Pacific, Louisiana-Pacific established its reputation by pioneering innovative manufacturing techniques for OSB, becoming one of the first companies to bring the product to market in the 1980s.