Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) Upgraded at Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $31.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on RYN. StockNews.com upgraded Rayonier from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Rayonier from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Rayonier from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Rayonier from $32.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.00.

Rayonier Price Performance

NYSE:RYN opened at $27.95 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.84 and a beta of 1.00. Rayonier has a 1-year low of $24.88 and a 1-year high of $32.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.01. 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 (NYSE:RYN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Rayonier will post 0.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rayonier declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, December 2nd that allows the company to buyback $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the real estate investment trust to repurchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Rayonier Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. Rayonier’s payout ratio is presently 46.19%.

Institutional Trading of Rayonier

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Rayonier by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 19,993 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $522,000 after buying an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. increased its stake in Rayonier by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 11,652 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Rayonier by 41.8% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,733 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Rayonier by 59.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,404 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Rayonier by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,317 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.12% of the company’s stock.

About Rayonier

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.