Legal & General Group Plc Has $101.54 Million Position in Rayonier Inc. $RYN

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc increased its Rayonier stake by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, ending with 4.69 million shares valued at about $101.5 million.
• Rayonier reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings of $0.07 per share, though revenue came in slightly below estimates at $276.79 million. The company also said revenue jumped sharply from a year earlier.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, implying an annualized yield of about 4.9%, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Hold with an average price target of $24.80.

Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN - Free Report) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,689,938 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 467,703 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 2.91% of Rayonier worth $101,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in RYN. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in shares of Rayonier by 1,088.2% in 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 grew its position in shares of Rayonier by 246.6% in 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. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Rayonier by 952.8% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 505,351 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $11,209,000 after purchasing an additional 457,352 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Rayonier by 882.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 496,024 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $10,739,000 after purchasing an additional 445,538 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Rayonier by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,174,792 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $458,434,000 after purchasing an additional 444,503 shares during the last quarter. 89.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Rayonier Stock Up 1.7%

RYN stock opened at $21.10 on Friday. Rayonier Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.49 and a twelve month high of $27.33. The company has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a PE ratio of 6.99 and a beta of 0.90. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $20.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.66. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.01. Rayonier had a return on equity of 3.61% and a net margin of 68.61%.The business had revenue of $276.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $280.92 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.02) earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 233.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Rayonier Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 16th. Rayonier's payout ratio is presently 34.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RYN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Rayonier from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Raymond James Financial raised Rayonier from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $24.00 target price on Rayonier in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen raised Rayonier from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 18th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Rayonier from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $24.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rayonier news, CFO Wayne Wasechek sold 2,920 shares of Rayonier stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.17, for a total transaction of $61,816.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 115,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,445,770.10. The trade was a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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. Insiders own 0.85% of the company's stock.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding RYN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.