BNP Paribas Financial Markets Increases Stock Position in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN - Free Report) by 87.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 161,130 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 75,258 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned approximately 0.11% of Rayonier worth $5,185,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $923,000 after acquiring an additional 23,953 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Rayonier during the 2nd quarter valued at about $732,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Rayonier during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,525,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Rayonier during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,275,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Rayonier by 148.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 120,462 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,504,000 after acquiring an additional 71,961 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.12% of the company's stock.

Rayonier Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE RYN traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $31.49. The company had a trading volume of 129,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 605,713. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $31.36 and a 200 day moving average of $30.42. Rayonier Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.40 and a 1-year high of $35.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.92 and a beta of 1.02.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.21 million. Rayonier had a net margin of 15.84% and a return on equity of 2.95%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.13 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rayonier announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, December 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the real estate investment trust to reacquire up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Rayonier Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a positive change from Rayonier's previous special dividend of $0.20. Rayonier's dividend payout ratio is 107.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director V. Larkin Martin sold 10,011 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.57, for a total value of $306,036.27. Following the sale, the director now owns 40,168 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,227,935.76. This trade represents a 19.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on RYN. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Rayonier from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research 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 Profile

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.