275,794 Shares in Rayonier Inc. $RYN Purchased by Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC

Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 275,794 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $5,687,000. Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC owned about 0.09% of Rayonier at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 444,503 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Rayonier in the fourth quarter valued at $313,806,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Rayonier by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 13,548,815 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $293,332,000 after purchasing an additional 717,021 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Rayonier by 232.2% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,647,156 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $122,261,000 after purchasing an additional 3,947,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in Rayonier by 42.3% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RYN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Rayonier from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. 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 report on Tuesday, May 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $24.00 price objective on Rayonier in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Rayonier from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Rayonier presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $24.60.

Rayonier Price Performance

Shares of RYN stock opened at $21.59 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $21.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.52. Rayonier Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.49 and a 52-week high of $27.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a current ratio of 2.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.15 and a beta of 0.88.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.01. Rayonier had a return on equity of 3.61% and a net margin of 68.61%.The company had revenue of $276.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $280.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.02) EPS. Rayonier's quarterly revenue was up 233.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Rayonier Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 16th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Rayonier's payout ratio is presently 34.44%.

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.

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