Stella-Jones (TSE:SJ) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Cibc World Mkts

Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Stella-Jones (TSE:SJ) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on SJ. CIBC raised Stella-Jones from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from C$83.00 to C$86.00 in a report on Wednesday. TD Securities reduced their price target on shares of Stella-Jones from C$103.00 to C$88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Stella-Jones from C$97.00 to C$81.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Stella-Jones from C$95.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Stella-Jones presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$88.50.

Stella-Jones Price Performance

TSE:SJ traded down C$0.25 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching C$70.42. The stock had a trading volume of 8,023 shares, compared to its average volume of 218,773. Stella-Jones has a 12 month low of C$65.43 and a 12 month high of C$98.00. The stock has a market capitalization of C$3.97 billion, a PE ratio of 11.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 93.08, a current ratio of 6.57 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of C$71.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$83.61.

Stella-Jones Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Stella-Jones’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.09%.

Insider Activity at Stella-Jones

In other news, Senior Officer Richard Cuddihy acquired 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of C$70.85 per share, for a total transaction of C$35,424.00. Also, Director Rhodri Harries bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of C$70.50 per share, for a total transaction of C$352,500.00. Insiders purchased 12,785 shares of company stock worth $896,221 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Stella-Jones Company Profile

Stella-Jones Inc produces and sells lumber and wood products. The company operates in two segments: Pressure-treated wood, which includes utility poles, railway ties, residential lumber, and industrial products; and Logs & Lumber segment comprises of the sales of logs harvested in the course of the company’s procurement process that is determined to be unsuitable for use as utility poles, it also includes the sale of excess lumber to local home-building markets.