West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.24

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, September 10th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.237 per share on Friday, October 11th. This represents a $0.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th.

West Fraser Timber has raised its dividend by an average of 26.2% annually over the last three years. West Fraser Timber has a dividend payout ratio of 22.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect West Fraser Timber to earn $8.21 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 15.6%.

West Fraser Timber Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of West Fraser Timber stock traded up $0.98 on Thursday, hitting $87.74. The stock had a trading volume of 19,250 shares, compared to its average volume of 159,377. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. West Fraser Timber has a one year low of $64.11 and a one year high of $91.43. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.53. The stock has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -72.92 and a beta of 1.16.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. West Fraser Timber had a net margin of 2.23% and a return on equity of 3.83%. West Fraser Timber’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.03) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that West Fraser Timber will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on West Fraser Timber from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of West Fraser Timber from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, West Fraser Timber presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $105.60.

West Fraser Timber Company Profile

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.