Rayonier Inc. (RYN) to Distribute Special Dividend of $1.80 on January 30th

Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) declared a special dividend on Monday, December 2nd,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, December 12th will be given a dividend of 1.80 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, January 30th. This is an increase from Rayonier’s previous special dividend of $0.20.

Rayonier has a payout ratio of 207.3% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Rayonier to earn $0.52 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.14 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 219.2%.

Rayonier Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE RYN opened at $31.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 29.92 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Rayonier has a 12-month low of $27.40 and a 12-month high of $35.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $31.37 and a 200 day moving average of $30.41.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) last posted its quarterly 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). Rayonier had a net margin of 15.84% and a return on equity of 2.95%. The company had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.21 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. Rayonier’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Rayonier will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rayonier announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, December 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $300.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the real estate investment trust to reacquire up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director V. Larkin Martin sold 10,011 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.57, for a total transaction of $306,036.27. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.