Legal & General Group Plc Has $101.54 Million Stock Position in Rayonier Inc. $RYN

Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,689,938 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 467,703 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Rayonier were worth $101,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Rayonier by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 20,957 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 877 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Rayonier in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $320,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. raised its stake in shares of Rayonier by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. now owns 25,184 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $545,000 after acquiring an additional 1,104 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Rayonier by 77.7% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 1,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Rayonier by 61.4% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 8,413 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $182,000 after acquiring an additional 3,202 shares during the last quarter. 89.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Rayonier Stock Performance

NYSE:RYN opened at $21.10 on Friday. Rayonier Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.49 and a 1 year high of $27.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $20.70 and a 200-day moving average of $21.66. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.99 and a beta of 0.90.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.01. Rayonier had a net margin of 68.61% and a return on equity of 3.61%. The firm had revenue of $276.79 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $280.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.02) EPS. Rayonier’s revenue was up 233.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rayonier Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 16th. Rayonier’s payout ratio is 34.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Wayne Wasechek sold 2,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.17, for a total value of $61,816.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 115,530 shares in the company, valued at $2,445,770.10. The trade was a 2.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on RYN. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Rayonier from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $24.00 target price on shares of Rayonier in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Rayonier from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Rayonier from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Rayonier from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.80.

About Rayonier

Rayonier, Inc (NYSE: RYN) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust specializing in timberland ownership and management. The company’s core business revolves around sustainably growing, harvesting, and marketing timber and timber-related products. Rayonier’s timberland portfolio encompasses approximately 2.7 million acres across the United States and New Zealand, focusing on softwood and hardwood fiber for use in paper, packaging and building materials.

Rayonier operates through two primary segments: Timber and Real Estate Solutions.