Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Rayonier Advanced Materials (NYSE:RYAM)

Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. (NYSE:RYAM) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 3,263 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 209% compared to the average volume of 1,056 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rayonier Advanced Materials

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of RYAM. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Rayonier Advanced Materials by 6.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,721,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,646,000 after buying an additional 155,268 shares in the last quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Rayonier Advanced Materials by 252.6% in the 4th quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 1,800,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,289,490 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Rayonier Advanced Materials by 26.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,687,949 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,942,000 after acquiring an additional 348,589 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Rayonier Advanced Materials by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,548,346 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,122,000 after purchasing an additional 9,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Rayonier Advanced Materials by 177.3% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,359,752 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,817,000 after purchasing an additional 869,486 shares in the last quarter. 68.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on RYAM. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Rayonier Advanced Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Rayonier Advanced Materials from $9.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.00.

Rayonier Advanced Materials Price Performance

Shares of RYAM traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $7.74. 1,000,872 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,071,422. The stock has a market cap of $521.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.10 and a beta of 1.74. Rayonier Advanced Materials has a 1-year low of $3.35 and a 1-year high of $11.85. The company has a 50 day moving average of $8.83 and a 200-day moving average of $8.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Rayonier Advanced Materials (NYSE:RYAM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported ($1.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by ($0.60). Rayonier Advanced Materials had a negative return on equity of 43.24% and a negative net margin of 32.86%.The firm had revenue of $319.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $302.63 million. Analysts expect that Rayonier Advanced Materials will post -1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Rayonier Advanced Materials

Rayonier Advanced Materials, Inc is a publicly traded specialty bioproducts company focused on the production of high-purity cellulose and engineered wood products. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, the company operates a network of manufacturing facilities across North America, New Zealand and Europe. Its cellulose specialties business produces dissolving pulps and high-purity fibers that serve a range of end markets, including food and beverage, personal care, pharmaceuticals and textiles.