Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) to Buyback $300.00 million in Outstanding Stock

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, December 2nd, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the real estate investment trust to repurchase 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 stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on RYN. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Rayonier from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Rayonier from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 16th.

Rayonier Stock Performance

NYSE RYN opened at $31.49 on Tuesday. 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 1-year low of $27.40 and a 1-year high of $35.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.07 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.40.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.01). Rayonier had a net margin of 15.84% and a return on equity of 2.95%. The business had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.21 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Rayonier will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Rayonier Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This is a positive change from Rayonier’s previous special dividend of $0.20. Rayonier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 107.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director V. Larkin Martin sold 10,011 shares of Rayonier stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.57, for a total transaction of $306,036.27. Following the sale, the director now owns 40,168 shares in the company, valued at $1,227,935.76. This trade represents a 19.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Rayonier

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.