West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Plans Dividend Increase – $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 paid 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 of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This is an increase from West Fraser Timber’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.

West Fraser Timber has raised its dividend by an average of 26.2% annually over the last three years. West Fraser Timber has a payout ratio of 26.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Down 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE:WFG traded down $2.68 during trading on Friday, hitting $89.49. 246,643 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 157,982. West Fraser Timber has a 1-year low of $73.91 and a 1-year high of $102.40. The company has a market capitalization of $7.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -69.96 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s 50 day moving average is $95.19 and its 200-day moving average is $87.96.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported ($1.03) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that West Fraser Timber will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of West Fraser Timber from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of West Fraser Timber from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target 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.