AQR Capital Management LLC Purchases 1,397,555 Shares of Rayonier Inc. $RYN

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC significantly increased its stake in Rayonier Inc. by 1,287.3% in the first quarter, now owning 1,506,119 shares valued at approximately $41.99 million.
• Rayonier's latest earnings report revealed a profit of $0.06 per share, surpassing estimates, and a revenue of $106.50 million for the quarter, showing a 6.9% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.2725 per share, which will be paid on September 30th, representing a 4.1% annual yield based on the current stock price.

AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN - Free Report) by 1,287.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,506,119 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 1,397,555 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.97% of Rayonier worth $41,991,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Rayonier by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,543,523 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $40,286,000 after acquiring an additional 234,629 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Rayonier in the fourth quarter worth $416,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Rayonier in the fourth quarter worth $324,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Rayonier during the 4th quarter valued at $176,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Rayonier by 730.8% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,829,422 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $47,748,000 after buying an additional 1,609,232 shares in the last quarter. 89.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RYN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Rayonier from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Rayonier from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Rayonier from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Rayonier currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.00.

Rayonier Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE RYN traded down $0.47 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $26.31. 816,283 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 877,302. Rayonier Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.84 and a 52 week high of $32.88. The company has a quick ratio of 3.38, a current ratio of 3.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $25.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.89. The stock has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a PE ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.01.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $106.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.30 million. Rayonier had a return on equity of 3.39% and a net margin of 68.53%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.02 EPS. Analysts forecast that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rayonier Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Rayonier's payout ratio is presently 22.02%.

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.