Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 173,704 Shares of Rayonier Inc. $RYN

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,089,936 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 173,704 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.91% of Rayonier worth $66,910,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Rayonier by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,174,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $458,434,000 after purchasing an additional 444,503 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Rayonier by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,689,938 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $101,537,000 after purchasing an additional 467,703 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Rayonier by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,782,342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $100,383,000 after purchasing an additional 94,033 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Rayonier by 23.0% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,197,009 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $58,133,000 after purchasing an additional 411,169 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Rayonier by 29.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,839,907 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $48,831,000 after purchasing an additional 416,048 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Wayne Wasechek sold 2,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.17, for a total transaction of $61,816.40. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Rayonier Price Performance

Shares of NYSE RYN opened at $20.81 on Tuesday. Rayonier Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.49 and a 1 year high of $27.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 2.21. The company’s 50-day moving average is $20.82 and its 200 day moving average is $21.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.89 and a beta of 0.88.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $276.79 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $280.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.02) earnings per share. Rayonier’s quarterly revenue was up 233.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Rayonier Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. Rayonier’s payout ratio is currently 34.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Rayonier from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 18th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Rayonier from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Rayonier from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Rayonier from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Rayonier from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.