Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 111,154 Shares of Louisiana-Pacific Co. (NYSE:LPX)

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Louisiana-Pacific Co. (NYSE:LPX) by 22.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 389,220 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock after selling 111,154 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Louisiana-Pacific were worth $40,304,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Louisiana-Pacific by 1.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 132,891 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position 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 worth $231,529,000 after purchasing an additional 210,113 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Louisiana-Pacific in the 4th quarter valued at $78,181,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Louisiana-Pacific by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 613,752 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock valued at $63,554,000 after buying an additional 19,772 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Louisiana-Pacific by 215.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 470,167 shares of the building manufacturing company’s stock valued at $48,686,000 after acquiring an additional 320,912 shares during the period. 94.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LPX. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Louisiana-Pacific in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Louisiana-Pacific from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Louisiana-Pacific from $117.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Louisiana-Pacific from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price target on Louisiana-Pacific from $125.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.50.

Louisiana-Pacific Stock Performance

Shares of LPX stock opened at $86.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.86. The firm has a market cap of $6.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 2.02. Louisiana-Pacific Co. has a 52 week low of $71.39 and a 52 week high of $122.87. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $101.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $106.21.

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

Louisiana-Pacific Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This is a boost from Louisiana-Pacific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Louisiana-Pacific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.05%.

Louisiana-Pacific Profile

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.