New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $4.28 Million Holdings in Rayonier Inc. $RYN

New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) by 19.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 197,736 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,963 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.12% of Rayonier worth $4,281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 444,503 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Rayonier by 0.7% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,222,235 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $112,058,000 after acquiring an additional 28,705 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Rayonier by 2.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,782,342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $100,383,000 after acquiring an additional 94,033 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Rayonier by 23.0% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,197,009 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $58,133,000 after acquiring an additional 411,169 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Rayonier by 29.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,839,907 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $48,831,000 after acquiring an additional 416,048 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rayonier

In other news, Chairman Eric J. Cremers sold 169,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.44, for a total transaction of $3,627,648.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 709,583 shares in the company, valued at $15,213,459.52. This represents a 19.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Wayne Wasechek sold 2,920 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was 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 approximately $2,445,770.10. This trade represents a 2.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on RYN. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Rayonier in a report on Friday, March 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $24.00 price objective 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Rayonier from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price objective 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 and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Rayonier has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.50.

Rayonier Stock Up 2.3%

Rayonier stock opened at $21.19 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $6.40 billion, a PE ratio of 6.95 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a current ratio of 3.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $20.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.99. Rayonier Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.49 and a twelve month high of $27.33.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $276.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $280.92 million. Rayonier had a net margin of 97.94% and a return on equity of 4.09%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 233.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.02) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Rayonier Inc. will post 0.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rayonier Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 17th. Rayonier’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.10%.

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.