Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.00.

WY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James raised shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of Weyerhaeuser in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup cut their price objective on Weyerhaeuser from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. CIBC raised Weyerhaeuser from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Weyerhaeuser during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $638,470,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 57.5% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 38,928,176 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,095,726,000 after buying an additional 14,213,243 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,755,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,210,694,000 after buying an additional 4,035,048 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 257.2% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,472,451 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $151,437,000 after buying an additional 3,220,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 122.3% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 4,881,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $137,417,000 after buying an additional 2,685,634 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Weyerhaeuser Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Weyerhaeuser stock opened at $29.38 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.71. The stock has a market cap of $21.32 billion, a PE ratio of 53.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Weyerhaeuser has a 12 month low of $26.73 and a 12 month high of $36.10.

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

Weyerhaeuser Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. This is an increase from Weyerhaeuser’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Weyerhaeuser’s dividend payout ratio is 152.73%.

Weyerhaeuser Company Profile

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.