Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Purchases 39,039 Shares of Rayonier Inc. $RYN

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its position in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) by 72.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 93,135 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,039 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Rayonier were worth $1,920,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new stake in shares of Rayonier in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Rayonier by 65.7% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the period. Bayban bought a new position in Rayonier during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. raised its stake in Rayonier by 49.7% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 1,732 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 575 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in Rayonier by 74.0% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 2,279 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 969 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rayonier

In other 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 value of $61,816.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 115,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,445,770.10. The trade was a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Rayonier Price Performance

Rayonier stock opened at $21.82 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Rayonier Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.49 and a 12 month high of $27.33. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $20.95 and its 200-day moving average is $21.53.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $276.79 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $280.92 million. Rayonier had a return on equity of 3.61% and a net margin of 68.61%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 233.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.02) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.36 EPS for the current year.

Rayonier Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Rayonier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Rayonier from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Weiss Ratings cut Rayonier from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Rayonier from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $24.00 price objective on shares of Rayonier in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Rayonier from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.60.

Rayonier Profile

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.