Rayonier Inc. $RYN Shares Acquired by UBS Group AG

UBS Group AG grew its position in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) by 882.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 496,024 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 445,538 shares during the period. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Rayonier were worth $10,739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its stake in Rayonier by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 54,096 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 2,517 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Rayonier by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,174,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $458,434,000 after purchasing an additional 444,503 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in Rayonier by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 44,685 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $967,000 after purchasing an additional 894 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in Rayonier by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 52,089 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,128,000 after purchasing an additional 12,386 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Krilogy Financial LLC acquired a new position in Rayonier during the 4th quarter worth $589,000. 89.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RYN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on Rayonier from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Rayonier from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen raised Rayonier from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Rayonier from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $24.00 price objective on Rayonier in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Rayonier currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.75.

Rayonier Stock Performance

Shares of RYN stock opened at $19.82 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.56 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.80. Rayonier Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.49 and a 12-month high of $27.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $276.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $280.92 million. Rayonier had a return on equity of 3.61% and a net margin of 68.61%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 233.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.02) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.36 EPS for the current year.

Rayonier Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 17th. Rayonier’s dividend payout ratio is 34.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Wayne Wasechek sold 2,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.17, for a total value of $61,816.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 115,530 shares in the company, valued at $2,445,770.10. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Chairman Eric J. Cremers sold 169,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.44, for a total value of $3,627,648.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 709,583 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,213,459.52. This represents a 19.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Rayonier Company Profile

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.