Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Invests $3.65 Million in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 140,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $3,654,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned 0.09% of Rayonier at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Rayonier by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 19,993 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $522,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co. increased its position in Rayonier by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 11,652 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Rayonier by 59.7% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,404 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its position in Rayonier by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,317 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 535 shares during the period. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Rayonier in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. 89.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on RYN. Wall Street Zen upgraded Rayonier from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Raymond James upgraded Rayonier from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Rayonier from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on Rayonier from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Rayonier currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $27.50.

Rayonier Price Performance

Shares of RYN stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $23.31. 569,491 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 851,544. Rayonier Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.80 and a twelve month high of $31.29. The firm has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.88 and a beta of 1.07. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $25.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.12.

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

Rayonier Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Rayonier's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Rayonier 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.