Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $30.96, but opened at $32.03. Weyerhaeuser shares last traded at $31.64, with a volume of 757,817 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Weyerhaeuser from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Argus raised shares of Weyerhaeuser to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com cut Weyerhaeuser from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Weyerhaeuser from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Weyerhaeuser has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.33.

Weyerhaeuser Stock Up 1.0 %

The company has a market cap of $22.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.41 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $32.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Weyerhaeuser had a return on equity of 4.21% and a net margin of 7.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Weyerhaeuser will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Weyerhaeuser Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. Weyerhaeuser’s dividend payout ratio is currently 108.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Weyerhaeuser

In other news, Director James Calvin O’rourke purchased 7,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $32.01 per share, with a total value of $249,678.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $565,680.72. This trade represents a 79.01 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WY. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 148.2% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 125,620 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,253,000 after acquiring an additional 75,000 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 729,570 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $23,777,000 after acquiring an additional 67,314 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Weyerhaeuser in the 3rd quarter worth $260,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 23.5% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 31,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 5,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 9.4% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 258,165 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,741,000 after buying an additional 22,178 shares during the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Weyerhaeuser

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.