Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 2,685,634 Shares of Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) by 122.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,881,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,685,634 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Weyerhaeuser were worth $137,417,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WY. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Weyerhaeuser by 12.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,755,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,210,694,000 after buying an additional 4,035,048 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 2.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,407,646 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,063,463,000 after buying an additional 761,757 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,534,058 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $659,422,000 after buying an additional 217,510 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,986,081 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $252,958,000 after purchasing an additional 245,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Weyerhaeuser by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,852,503 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $247,793,000 after buying an additional 249,257 shares during the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Weyerhaeuser Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:WY opened at $30.69 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $29.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Weyerhaeuser has a 1 year low of $26.73 and a 1 year high of $36.27.

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. Weyerhaeuser had a net margin of 5.56% and a return on equity of 3.86%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Weyerhaeuser will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weyerhaeuser Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. This is a boost from Weyerhaeuser’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Weyerhaeuser’s dividend payout ratio is presently 152.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on WY shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of Weyerhaeuser in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James upgraded shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. CIBC upgraded shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Weyerhaeuser from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.00.

About Weyerhaeuser

Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world's largest private owners of timberlands, began operations in 1900. We own or control approximately 11 million acres of timberlands in the U.S. and manage additional timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. We manage these timberlands on a sustainable basis in compliance with internationally recognized forestry standards.