Legal & General Group Plc Buys New Position in Rayonier Inc. $RYN

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 10,036,382 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $213,574,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Rayonier by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,012 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Rayonier by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 10,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 502 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Rayonier by 65.7% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 627 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH boosted its position in Rayonier by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 15,641 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Painted Porch Advisors LLC boosted its position in Rayonier by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 14,421 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. 89.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Rayonier Price Performance

RYN stock opened at $20.85 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $6.20 billion, a PE ratio of 46.33 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 3.56, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $21.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.24. Rayonier Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.49 and a 12-month high of $27.06.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.10. The business had revenue of $396.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $374.28 million. Rayonier had a return on equity of 3.49% and a net margin of 7.83%.The company’s revenue was up 272.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.06 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Rayonier Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 16th. Rayonier’s payout ratio is currently 231.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on RYN. Weiss Ratings upgraded Rayonier from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Rayonier from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Rayonier from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Rayonier from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.80.

Rayonier 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.