Vanguard Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Rayonier Inc. $RYN

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,730,289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 225,482 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 13.45% of Rayonier worth $550,182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Rayonier by 25.7% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,688,309 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $81,807,000 after buying an additional 754,076 shares during the last quarter. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Rayonier by 22.1% during the second quarter. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. now owns 1,700,299 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,713,000 after buying an additional 308,200 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in Rayonier in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $674,000. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in Rayonier by 102.7% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 156,988 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,482,000 after buying an additional 79,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new stake in shares of Rayonier during the 2nd quarter worth about $542,000. 89.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Rayonier Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of RYN stock opened at $21.49 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.05 and a beta of 0.98. Rayonier Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.06 and a 1 year high of $28.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $22.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.80. The company has a current ratio of 3.26, a quick ratio of 3.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.08. Rayonier had a net margin of 97.94% and a return on equity of 4.09%. The business had revenue of $117.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $108.71 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rayonier Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 17th. Rayonier’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on RYN. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Rayonier from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Rayonier from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Rayonier from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Rayonier in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on Rayonier from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Rayonier has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.00.

About Rayonier

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.