Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Acquires 39,039 Shares of Rayonier Inc. $RYN

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its holdings in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) by 72.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,135 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 39,039 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Rayonier were worth $1,920,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in RYN. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Rayonier during the fourth quarter worth approximately $313,806,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. acquired a new position in Rayonier in the 1st quarter valued at $85,771,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Rayonier by 232.2% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,647,156 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $122,261,000 after acquiring an additional 3,947,226 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in shares of Rayonier by 42.3% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,925,463 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $101,563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,463,118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec bought a new position in shares of Rayonier in the fourth quarter worth $20,813,000. 89.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Rayonier from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Rayonier from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Rayonier from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Rayonier from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Rayonier from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Wayne Wasechek sold 2,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.17, for a total transaction of $61,816.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 115,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,445,770.10. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Rayonier Trading Up 0.5%

RYN opened at $21.82 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $6.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company’s 50 day moving average is $20.95 and its 200-day moving average is $21.53. Rayonier Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.49 and a 1-year high of $27.33.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $280.92 million. Rayonier had a net margin of 68.61% and a return on equity of 3.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 233.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.02) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rayonier Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 16th. Rayonier’s payout ratio is presently 34.44%.

About Rayonier

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.