Category: Breaking News

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd.

Cim LLC reduced its stake in West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (NYSE:WFG – Get Rating) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,340 shares of the company’s stock after selling 696 shares during the quarter. Cim LLC’s holdings in West Fraser Timber were worth $2,296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of West Fraser Timber by 33.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 20,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,686,000 after purchasing an additional 5,039 shares during the last quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. purchased a new position in West Fraser Timber during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,291,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in West Fraser Timber during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,755,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of West Fraser Timber during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $130,000. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of West Fraser Timber during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $200,000. 71.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WFG. CIBC raised shares of West Fraser Timber from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.60 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 10th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of West Fraser Timber from C$143.00 to C$147.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 16th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised shares of West Fraser Timber from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $101.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $130.09.Shares of NYSE WFG traded down $0.88 during trading on Friday, hitting $86.56. 280,902 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 335,746. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has a 12-month low of $64.14 and a 12-month high of $102.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 2.67. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $94.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.15 billion and a PE ratio of 3.25.

West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 14th. The company reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.78 by ($1.65). The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.61 billion. West Fraser Timber had a net margin of 28.02% and a return on equity of 39.91%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.78 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. will post 17.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 18th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from West Fraser Timber’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 17th. West Fraser Timber’s payout ratio is 3.76%.

West Fraser Timber Company Profile 

West Fraser Timber Co Ltd., a diversified wood products company, engages in manufacturing, selling, marketing, and distributing lumber, engineered wood products, pulp, newsprint, wood chips, and other residuals and renewable energy. It offers spruce-pine-fir and southern yellow pine lumber, treated wood products, medium density fiberboard panels and plywood, oriented strand board, and laminated veneer lumber wood products.

Horgan announces one-time rebate to help B.C. drivers with high gas prices

British Columbia’s public auto insurer is giving a one-time rebate to help drivers cope with the cost of rising fuel prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Premier John Horgan announced Friday.

Horgan said the provincial government approached the Insurance Corporation of B.C. to provide drivers who have a basic auto insurance policy with a $110 rebate and commercial drivers with $165.

“Today, if we go to fill up at the pumps, sometimes it feels like it’s a bit of a holdup,” he told a news conference. “Prices are at unprecedented levels and those prices at the pump are a direct result of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Gas prices in B.C.’s Lower Mainland hovered around $1.95 per litre on Friday. Outside Metro Vancouver, where taxes are lower, drivers were paying about 10 cents less per litre.

Horgan said the one-time payment is a better approach than cutting fuel taxes because the price will only increase again at the pumps.

He said the corporation is in a financial position to cover the cost of $395-million rebate. It is forecasting an annual net income of $1.9-billion for the 2021-22 fiscal year ending March 31.

In 2018, David Eby, who was then the minister in charge of the insurance corporation, compared the finances of the public auto insurer to a dumpster fire.

The NDP brought in legislation to prevent governments from dipping into reserves at the corporation “to pad their budgets,” Horgan said Friday.

But the difference with the rebate, he said, is that the money is going back to policy holders, who finance the corporation.

“This is a rebate based on the robust position the corporation is in,” Horgan said.

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said drivers can expect the rebate to start rolling out in May.

Prof. Werner Antweiler, an economist at the University of British Columbia, said the relief payment will help as the market deals with a shortage of gasoline.

“The idea is we’re not interfering in the market. The market needs to do its magic of closing the gap between supply and demand through higher [gas] prices,” he said. “The higher prices are necessary.”

Antweiler said the focus needs to be on giving financial relief to commercial drivers because, in theory, if they get help, they won’t pass added costs on to consumers.

Peter Milobar, the B.C. Liberal party’s finance critic, said the government’s approach doesn’t target help at those who need it most as everyone gets the same rebate, including owners of electric vehicles.

“The fact that a single parent working two jobs and driving a Honda Civic is getting the same one-time rebate as a Tesla owner is ridiculous,” he said in a news release.

“Not everyone feels the impacts of these sky-high prices the same.”

U.S. Consumer Sentiment Drops More Than Initially Estimated In March

Revised data released by the University of Michigan on Friday showed consumer sentiment in the U.S. fell by more than initially estimated in the month of March.

The report showed the consumer sentiment index for March was downwardly revised to 59.4 from the preliminary reading of 59.7. Economists had expected the index to be unrevised.

With the unexpected downward revision, the consumer sentiment was at its lowest level since hitting 55.8 in August of 2011.

“Inflation has been the primary cause of rising pessimism,” said Surveys of Consumers chief economist Richard Curtin. “Inflation was mentioned throughout the survey, whether the questions referred to personal finances, prospects for the economy, or assessments of buying conditions.”

He added, “When asked to explain changes in their finances in their own words, more consumers mentioned reduced living standards due to rising inflation than any other time except during the two worst recessions in the past fifty years.”

The report showed one-year inflation expectations jumped to 5.4 percent in March from 4.9 percent in February, reaching the highest level since November 1981.

The current economic conditions index edged down to 67.2 in March from 68.2 in February, while the index of consumer expectations slumped to 54.3 from 59.4.

Gold Futures Settle Lower On Rate Hike Fears

Gold prices edged lower on Friday amid fears of aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve. However, with rising inflation, and tensions due to the ongoing war in Ukraine boosting its safe-haven appeal, the yellow metal posted a weekly gain.

Higher Treasury yields weighed on gold. Bond yields stayed firm at multi-year highs amid rising prospects of some sharper interest rate hikes.

A somewhat subdued dollar limited gold’s downside.

Gold futures for April ended down by $8.00 or about 0.4% at $1,954.20 an ounce. Gold futures gained 1.3% in the week.

Silver futures for May drifted down $0.305 to settle at $25.615 an ounce, while Copper futures for May settled at $4.6985 per pound, down $0.0440 from the previous close.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said Thursday he’s “comfortable” with raising rates in quarter-point increments, while being “open” to a 50 basis-point move if needed.

Evans expects six more 25 basis point increases in the central bank’s policy interest rate by the end of the year and three more next year, putting the Fed funds rate in a range of 2.75- 3 percent by the end of 2023.

In economic news today, a report released by the National Association of Realtors showed an unexpected drop in pending home sales in February.

NAR said its pending home sales index tumbled by 4.1% to 104.9 in February after plunging by 5.8% to a revised 109.4 in January. The continued decrease came as a surprise to economists, who had expected the index to rebound by 1%.

Meanwhile, revised data released by the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment in the U.S. fell by more than initially estimated in the month of March. The report showed the consumer sentiment index for March was downwardly revised to 59.4 from the preliminary reading of 59.7. Economists had expected the index to be unrevised.

With the unexpected downward revision, the consumer sentiment was at its lowest level since hitting 55.8 in August of 2011.

Oil Futures Rebound After News About Strike On Storage Depot In Jeddah

After struggling for support earlier in the session, crude oil prices rallied Friday afternoon, lifted by news about a missile strike at an oil storage depot in Saudi Arabian city Jeddah.

The attack was reportedly launched by Yemeni Houthi rebels. A spokesman for the outfit is reported to have said that the group would announce more details on a wide operation in Saudi Arabia later in the day.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.56 or about 1.4% at $113.90 a barrel, off the session’s low of $108.62 a barrel. WTI futures gained nearly 12% in the week.

Brent crude futures were up $1.07 or 0.9% at $120.10 a barrel a little while ago.

Videos posted in the media revealed the location of the storage that was attacked was near the North Jeddah Bulk Plant. Meanwhile, a Reuters source said a Saudi Aramco facility had been hit.

Oil prices slipped on Friday, with some supply concerns easing after a partial export resumption from Kazakhstan’s CPC crude terminal, while the European Union remained split on whether to impose an oil embargo on Russia.

Brent crude fell $1.29, or 1.1 per cent, to $117.74 a barrel at 1049 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slid $1.80, or 1.6 per cent, to $110.54 after both had dropped more than 2 per cent the previous session.

Despite the fall, both benchmarks were heading for their first weekly gain in three weeks. Brent was on track for a 9 per cent jump and WTI for a 6 per cent rise as broader supply concerns sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine underpinned the market.

Concerns were heightened after the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal on Russia’s Black Sea coast stopped exports on Wednesday after being damaged by a storm.

The terminal partially resumed oil loadings on Friday, according to two sources familiar with the process and shipping data on Refinitiv Eikon.

The United States and Britain, both less reliant on Russian oil than the European Union, have imposed bans on Russian crude. The EU, which is heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas, faces a bigger dilemma over whether to impose sanctions on the sector.

“As the single largest buyer of Russian oil, the more rapidly Europe seeks to cut Russia’s imports, the higher global oil prices will rise,” J.P. Morgan analysts said in a note.

OPEC sources said the producer group’s officials believe that a possible EU ban on Russian oil would hurt consumers and that it had conveyed its concerns to Brussels.

With global stockpiles at their lowest since 2014, analysts said the market remained vulnerable to any supply shock.

Prices were also pressured by the potential for another coordinated release of oil from storage by the United States and its allies to help to calm oil markets.

Responding to market volatility, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) raised margins for Brent futures by 19 per cent for the May contract from Friday, the third rise this year.

Futures margin rates are increased when markets are volatile and the move makes transactions more expensive because it forces traders to increase the deposit they hold at the exchange for each contract to prove they can deliver on obligations.

In a bid to ease gas supply worries, the United States said it will work to ensure additional liquefied natural gas (LNG) volumes for the EU market of at least 15 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2022, with increases expected in the future.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-warns-americans-food-shortage-gonna-be-real-following-sanctions-russia

President Biden said Thursday that a food shortage is “gonna be real” following the sanctions that were placed on Russia by the U.S. government as a result of Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s invasion into Ukraine.

“With regard to food shortage, yes we did talk about food shortages, and it’s gonna be real,” Biden said during a press conference at a NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium, following a meeting with other world leaders.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/erdogan-ukraine-and-russia-nearing-consensus-on-4-of-6-key-issues-to-ending-the-war

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan claimed on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are nearing “consensus” on key issues to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war. Turkey has been hosting diplomatic talks between the nations.

“We will continue our talks with both Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelensky from now on as well,” Erdoğan said, according to his presidential office. “All our efforts aim to create an atmosphere of peace by bringing together the two leaders.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/25/eu-strikes-gas-deal-with-the-us-as-it-seeks-to-cut-its-reliance-on-russia.html

• U.S. President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the formation of a joint task force to bolster energy security for Ukraine and the EU for next winter and the following one.
• The primary goals of the task force, the U.S. and EU said in a joint statement, would be to diversify LNG supplies in alignment with climate objectives and reduce demand for natural gas.
• It comes amid heightened concern that energy-importing countries continue to top up President Vladimir Putin’s war chest with oil and gas revenue on a daily basis.