Louisiana-Pacific’s (LPX) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE:LPX) in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $125.00 price target on the building manufacturing company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Louisiana-Pacific from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com cut Louisiana-Pacific from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Louisiana-Pacific from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Louisiana-Pacific from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Louisiana-Pacific from $90.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $108.00.

Louisiana-Pacific Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:LPX opened at $98.78 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.80, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.95. Louisiana-Pacific has a 1 year low of $67.47 and a 1 year high of $122.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.86.

Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE:LPX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The building manufacturing company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.24. Louisiana-Pacific had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 25.35%. The company had revenue of $681.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $666.75 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Louisiana-Pacific will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Louisiana-Pacific Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. This is a positive change from Louisiana-Pacific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Louisiana-Pacific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Louisiana-Pacific

In other Louisiana-Pacific news, Director Lizanne C. Gottung sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.50, for a total transaction of $283,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,101,225.50. This trade represents a 11.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Louisiana-Pacific by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,087,989 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock valued at $733,961,000 after buying an additional 132,891 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Louisiana-Pacific by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,708,649 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock worth $384,031,000 after acquiring an additional 540,703 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Louisiana-Pacific by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,154,561 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock valued at $231,529,000 after acquiring an additional 210,113 shares in the last quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Louisiana-Pacific by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 1,982,826 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock worth $205,322,000 after purchasing an additional 235,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eminence Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Louisiana-Pacific by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 1,445,106 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock worth $149,641,000 after purchasing an additional 102,897 shares during the period. 94.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Louisiana-Pacific

Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides building solutions primarily for use in new home construction, repair and remodeling, and outdoor structure markets. It operates through Siding, Oriented Strand Board, LP South America, and Other segments. The Siding segment offers LP SmartSide trim and siding products, LP SmartSide ExpertFinish trim and siding products, LP BuilderSeries lap siding products, and LP Outdoor Building Solutions; and engineered wood siding, trim, soffit, and fascia products.