Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC Purchases 24,551 Shares of Rayonier Inc. $RYN

Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC grew its position in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) by 189.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 37,493 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,551 shares during the quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Rayonier were worth $773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Rayonier in the 4th quarter worth $313,806,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in 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 worth $122,261,000 after buying an additional 3,947,226 shares in the last quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec bought a new stake in Rayonier in the 4th quarter worth about $20,813,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its position in Rayonier by 1,088.2% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 790,239 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $17,528,000 after buying an additional 723,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its position in Rayonier by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 13,548,815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $293,332,000 after buying an additional 717,021 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rayonier

In related news, CFO Wayne Wasechek sold 2,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,445,770.10. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on RYN. Citigroup reduced their price target 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. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Rayonier from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Rayonier from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Rayonier from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Rayonier from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.80.

Rayonier Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:RYN opened at $20.87 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 0.88. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.56. Rayonier Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.49 and a 52-week high of $27.33.

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

Rayonier Announces Dividend

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

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.