DAVENPORT & Co LLC Makes New Investment in Rayonier Inc. $RYN

DAVENPORT & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 40,475 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $876,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Rayonier in the second quarter worth $304,538,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in Rayonier by 1,088.2% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 790,239 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $17,528,000 after purchasing an additional 723,732 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Rayonier by 246.6% during the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 960,747 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,498,000 after purchasing an additional 683,517 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in shares of Rayonier by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 4,842,552 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $107,408,000 after buying an additional 639,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Rayonier by 952.8% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 505,351 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,209,000 after buying an additional 457,352 shares in the last quarter. 89.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction of $3,627,648.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 709,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,213,459.52. This represents a 19.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.87% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Rayonier Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of RYN opened at $20.60 on Tuesday. Rayonier Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.49 and a twelve month high of $28.14. The company has a market cap of $6.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.75 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 3.26, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.84.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $117.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $108.71 million. Rayonier had a net margin of 97.94% and a return on equity of 4.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

Rayonier Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 17th. Rayonier’s payout ratio is 34.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on RYN shares. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Rayonier from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Rayonier in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Rayonier from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Rayonier from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Rayonier from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.00.

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.