Pacer Advisors Inc. Acquires 442 Shares of Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN)

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,993 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 442 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Rayonier were worth $522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in Rayonier in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,749,000. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Rayonier by 209.6% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 57,289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,843,000 after acquiring an additional 38,783 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Rayonier by 119.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 457,370 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,718,000 after acquiring an additional 249,173 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in Rayonier during the 4th quarter valued at $467,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Rayonier by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,279,512 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $137,715,000 after purchasing an additional 104,464 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Rayonier from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Rayonier from $32.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Rayonier from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Rayonier currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.67.

Rayonier Price Performance

Rayonier stock opened at $25.73 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.68. Rayonier Inc. has a one year low of $24.88 and a one year high of $35.29. The company has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a PE ratio of 24.27 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.85.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last issued 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rayonier Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 12th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a boost from Rayonier’s previous special dividend of $0.20. Rayonier’s dividend payout ratio is currently 107.55%.

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

About Rayonier

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.