State Street Corp Purchases 104,464 Shares of Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN)

State Street Corp raised its position in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,279,512 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 104,464 shares during the period. State Street Corp’s holdings in Rayonier were worth $137,715,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of RYN. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Rayonier by 308.5% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 31,717 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $923,000 after buying an additional 23,953 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Rayonier by 20.8% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 11,347 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,956 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Rayonier by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 97,820 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,846,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Rayonier by 83.7% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,449 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Rayonier by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,240,608 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,089,000 after buying an additional 10,536 shares during the period. 89.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on RYN. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Rayonier from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Rayonier from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 16th.

Rayonier Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Rayonier stock opened at $28.83 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a PE ratio of 27.20 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.99. Rayonier Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.40 and a 52-week high of $35.29.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last announced 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). Rayonier had a return on equity of 2.95% and a net margin of 15.84%. The business had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.21 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rayonier Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. This is a boost from Rayonier’s previous special dividend of $0.20. Rayonier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 107.55%.

Rayonier declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, December 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $300.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the real estate investment trust to purchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.