Fmr LLC Trims Stock Position in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN)

FMR LLC cut its stake in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN - Free Report) by 70.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,162 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 19,245 shares during the period. FMR LLC's holdings in Rayonier were worth $263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of Rayonier in the 2nd quarter worth $732,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Rayonier during the third quarter worth about $2,525,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in Rayonier in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,275,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Rayonier by 148.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 120,462 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,504,000 after buying an additional 71,961 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Rayonier by 56.7% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 752,847 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $21,900,000 after buying an additional 272,349 shares during the last quarter. 89.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on RYN. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Rayonier from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, November 16th. Truist Financial increased their price target 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 1.0 %

NYSE RYN traded up $0.27 on Friday, reaching $26.42. 2,270,400 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 619,029. Rayonier Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.14 and a fifty-two week 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 business's fifty day moving average price is $30.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.92 and a beta of 1.02.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.01). Rayonier had a return on equity of 2.95% and a net margin of 15.84%. The firm had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $211.21 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Rayonier Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 107.55%.

Rayonier announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, December 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the real estate investment trust to reacquire up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Rayonier Company 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.