California Public Employees Retirement System Grows Stock Position in Rayonier Inc. $RYN

California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) by 81.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 664,769 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 298,528 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.22% of Rayonier worth $13,708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in RYN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Rayonier by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,174,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $458,434,000 after purchasing an additional 444,503 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Rayonier in the fourth quarter worth approximately $313,806,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Rayonier by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 13,548,815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $293,332,000 after buying an additional 717,021 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Rayonier by 232.2% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,647,156 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $122,261,000 after buying an additional 3,947,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in Rayonier by 42.3% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,925,463 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $101,563,000 after buying an additional 1,463,118 shares in the last quarter. 89.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Rayonier Price Performance

Rayonier stock opened at $21.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a current ratio of 2.53. The company has a market capitalization of $6.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.15 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.52. Rayonier Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.49 and a 1 year high of $27.33.

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

Rayonier Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. Rayonier’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Rayonier from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Rayonier from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $24.00 target price on Rayonier in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Rayonier from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Rayonier from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.60.

Rayonier Company 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.