Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires New Shares in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 21,591 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $602,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in RYN. Norges Bank bought a new position in Rayonier during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $343,007,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Rayonier by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,372,817 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $88,031,000 after acquiring an additional 20,126 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Rayonier by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,107,331 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $81,101,000 after acquiring an additional 170,087 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Rayonier by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,632,193 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $68,719,000 after purchasing an additional 39,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Rayonier by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,488,802 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $64,958,000 after purchasing an additional 46,956 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on RYN. Citigroup lowered their price target on Rayonier from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Rayonier from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Raymond James raised shares of Rayonier from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Rayonier from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Rayonier from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $27.75.

Rayonier Trading Down 1.9%

Rayonier stock traded down $0.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $23.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 619,251 shares, compared to its average volume of 875,666. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a 50 day moving average of $23.99 and a 200-day moving average of $26.09. Rayonier Inc. has a one year low of $22.80 and a one year high of $31.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.65 billion, a PE ratio of 9.92 and a beta of 1.05.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.10). Rayonier had a return on equity of 3.86% and a net margin of 28.44%. The company had revenue of $82.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

Rayonier Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.66%. Rayonier's payout ratio is 46.78%.

Rayonier Company Profile

Rayonier is a leading timberland real estate investment trust with assets located in some of the most productive softwood timber growing regions in the United States and New Zealand. As of December 31, 2023, Rayonier owned or leased under long-term agreements approximately 2.7 million acres of timberlands located in the U.S.