Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Increases Stake in Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 222,631 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 631 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Weyerhaeuser were worth $6,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 12.7% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 4,035,048 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,407,646 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,063,463,000 after buying an additional 761,757 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Weyerhaeuser during the fourth quarter worth about $638,470,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Weyerhaeuser by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,534,058 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $659,422,000 after buying an additional 217,510 shares during the period. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Weyerhaeuser by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 14,362,306 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $404,299,000 after acquiring an additional 158,800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on WY shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Weyerhaeuser from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. CIBC raised Weyerhaeuser from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Raymond James upgraded Weyerhaeuser from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Weyerhaeuser from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised Weyerhaeuser from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Weyerhaeuser currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.00.

Weyerhaeuser Trading Down 0.3 %

WY opened at $29.27 on Tuesday. 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 52 week low of $26.73 and a 52 week high of $36.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $30.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.69. The firm has a market cap of $21.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 1.43.

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

Weyerhaeuser Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. This is a boost from Weyerhaeuser’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Weyerhaeuser’s dividend payout ratio is presently 152.73%.

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.