Bailard Inc. Invests $327,000 in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN)

Bailard Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 12,515 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $327,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Rayonier by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,279,512 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $137,715,000 after purchasing an additional 104,464 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Rayonier by 26.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,352,691 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $107,890,000 after buying an additional 695,810 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Rayonier by 0.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,441,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $78,579,000 after buying an additional 7,733 shares in the last quarter. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Rayonier by 2.9% during the third quarter. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. now owns 1,034,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,278,000 after buying an additional 28,800 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Rayonier by 119.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 457,370 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,718,000 after buying an additional 249,173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on RYN. Citigroup lowered their price target on Rayonier from $32.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Rayonier from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Rayonier from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Rayonier from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Rayonier Price Performance

Shares of Rayonier stock opened at $26.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.21 billion, a PE ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Rayonier Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.88 and a 12 month high of $33.54. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $26.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.14.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.08. Rayonier had a net margin of 28.44% and a return on equity of 3.86%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rayonier announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, December 2nd that allows the company to buyback $300.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the real estate investment trust to repurchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Rayonier Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.2725 dividend. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Rayonier’s payout ratio is presently 46.19%.

Rayonier Company Profile

Rayonier is a leading timberland real estate investment trust with assets located in some of the most productive softwood timber growing regions in the United States and New Zealand. As of December 31, 2023, Rayonier owned or leased under long-term agreements approximately 2.7 million acres of timberlands located in the U.S.