Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) Board Approves Share Repurchase Program

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, December 2nd, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $300.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the real estate investment trust to buy up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Rayonier Stock Performance

Shares of RYN stock opened at $31.42 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a PE ratio of 29.92 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $31.36 and a 200-day moving average of $30.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.85. Rayonier has a one year low of $27.40 and a one year high of $35.29.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.21 million. Rayonier had a net margin of 15.84% and a return on equity of 2.95%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Rayonier will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Rayonier Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is an increase from Rayonier’s previous special dividend of $0.20. Rayonier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 107.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on RYN. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Rayonier from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 16th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Rayonier from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director V. Larkin Martin sold 10,011 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.57, for a total value of $306,036.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 40,168 shares in the company, valued at $1,227,935.76. This represents a 19.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Rayonier Company Profile

Rayonier is a leading timberland real estate investment trust with assets located in some of the most productive softwood timber growing regions in the United States and New Zealand. As of December 31, 2023, Rayonier owned or leased under long-term agreements approximately 2.7 million acres of timberlands located in the U.S.