Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) to Repurchase $300.00 million in Shares

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, December 2nd, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $300.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the real estate investment trust to reacquire up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RYN has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Rayonier from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 16th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Rayonier from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th.

Rayonier Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE RYN opened at $31.71 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Rayonier has a 12 month low of $27.40 and a 12 month high of $35.29. The company has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.41.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.21 million. Rayonier had a net margin of 15.84% and a return on equity of 2.95%. Rayonier’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Rayonier will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Rayonier Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a boost from Rayonier’s previous special dividend of $0.20. Rayonier’s payout ratio is presently 107.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rayonier

In other news, Director V. Larkin Martin sold 10,011 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.57, for a total value of $306,036.27. Following the transaction, the director now owns 40,168 shares in the company, valued at $1,227,935.76. This represents a 19.95 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.83% 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.