Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Stake in Rayonier Inc. $RYN

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,174,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 444,503 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Rayonier worth $458,434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Rayonier by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 12,942 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC increased its stake in Rayonier by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 78,219 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,693,000 after acquiring an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its position in Rayonier by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 28,345 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $752,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Rayonier by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 24,299 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in Rayonier by 1.2% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 43,791 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,162,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. 89.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Eric J. Cremers sold 169,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.44, for a total transaction of $3,627,648.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 709,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,213,459.52. This represents a 19.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Wayne Wasechek sold 2,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.17, for a total transaction of $61,816.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 115,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,445,770.10. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Rayonier Price Performance

NYSE RYN opened at $20.71 on Wednesday. Rayonier Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.49 and a 12 month high of $27.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.26 billion, a PE ratio of 6.79 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 3.26 and a quick ratio of 3.23.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $117.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $108.71 million. Rayonier had a return on equity of 4.09% and a net margin of 97.94%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.24 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rayonier Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. Rayonier’s payout ratio is 34.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on RYN. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Rayonier from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Rayonier in a report on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Rayonier from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $24.00 target price on shares of Rayonier in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on Rayonier from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Rayonier presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.50.

Rayonier Company Profile

Rayonier, Inc (NYSE: RYN) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust specializing in timberland ownership and management. The company’s core business revolves around sustainably growing, harvesting, and marketing timber and timber-related products. Rayonier’s timberland portfolio encompasses approximately 2.7 million acres across the United States and New Zealand, focusing on softwood and hardwood fiber for use in paper, packaging and building materials.

Rayonier operates through two primary segments: Timber and Real Estate Solutions.