Stifel Financial Corp Buys 38,783 Shares of Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN)

Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) by 209.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 57,289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 38,783 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Rayonier were worth $1,843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RYN. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Rayonier in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Rayonier by 165.1% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,079 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 672 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Rayonier during the second quarter worth $40,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Rayonier by 539.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 1,042 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Rayonier by 83.7% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,449 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.12% of the company’s stock.

Rayonier Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of RYN opened at $26.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.92 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.99. Rayonier Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.14 and a 52 week high of $35.29. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.40.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.21 million. Rayonier had a net margin of 15.84% and a return on equity of 2.95%. Rayonier’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Rayonier declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, December 2nd that allows the company to buyback $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the real estate investment trust to repurchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Rayonier Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This is a boost from Rayonier’s previous special dividend of $0.20. Rayonier’s payout ratio is presently 107.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on RYN shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Rayonier from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 16th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Rayonier from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th.

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.