Stella-Jones (TSE:SJ) Rating Increased 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 report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

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

Stella-Jones Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Stella-Jones stock opened at C$70.67 on Tuesday. Stella-Jones has a 1 year low of C$65.43 and a 1 year high of C$98.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of C$71.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$83.61. The company has a market capitalization of C$3.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Stella-Jones Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. Stella-Jones’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.09%.

Insider Transactions at Stella-Jones

In other news, Director Patrick Kirkham acquired 2,035 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of C$70.36 per share, with a total value of C$143,179.34. Also, Senior Officer Richard Cuddihy bought 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$70.85 per share, for a total transaction of C$35,424.00. Insiders acquired a total of 12,785 shares of company stock worth $896,221 in the last three months. 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.