Principal Securities Inc. Acquires 779 Shares of Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY)

Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) by 12.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,151 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 779 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Weyerhaeuser were worth $201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 74,099 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,509,000 after buying an additional 13,572 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 22.9% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,874 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $165,000 after acquiring an additional 908 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Weyerhaeuser by 6,118.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 196,125 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,641,000 after purchasing an additional 192,971 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 96,094 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,254,000 after purchasing an additional 2,343 shares during the period. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 14,881 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on WY. StockNews.com raised shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James raised Weyerhaeuser from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Weyerhaeuser in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised Weyerhaeuser from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, CIBC raised Weyerhaeuser from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Weyerhaeuser currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.00.

Weyerhaeuser Price Performance

WY stock opened at $30.00 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.80. Weyerhaeuser has a 52 week low of $26.73 and a 52 week high of $36.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 1.42.

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.11 earnings per share 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%. Analysts anticipate that Weyerhaeuser will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weyerhaeuser Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. This is an increase from Weyerhaeuser’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Weyerhaeuser’s dividend payout ratio is currently 145.46%.

Weyerhaeuser 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.