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 boost from West Fraser Timber’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.

West Fraser Timber has increased its dividend payment by an average of 26.2% annually over the last three years. West Fraser Timber has a dividend payout ratio of 26.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Performance

Shares of West Fraser Timber stock traded down $2.68 during trading on Friday, reaching $89.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 246,643 shares, compared to its average volume of 157,982. West Fraser Timber has a one year low of $73.91 and a one year high of $102.40. The firm has a market cap of $7.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -69.96 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $95.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.96.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported ($1.03) earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.81 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that West Fraser Timber will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

About West Fraser Timber

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.