Brokerages Set Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Price Target at $26.50

Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $27.29.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HIW. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $22.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Highwoods Properties

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HIW. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,853 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $387,000 after acquiring an additional 3,189 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 23,387 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 5,624 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new position in Highwoods Properties in the 4th quarter worth about $1,147,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Highwoods Properties by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,898,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $43,580,000 after purchasing an additional 124,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in Highwoods Properties in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $291,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 1.0 %

HIW stock opened at $32.12 on Monday. Highwoods Properties has a twelve month low of $17.06 and a twelve month high of $32.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.33 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.08.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.31). Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 18.30% and a return on equity of 6.33%. The business had revenue of $204.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Highwoods Properties will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.23%. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 163.93%.

Highwoods Properties Company Profile

Highwoods Properties, Inc, headquartered in Raleigh, is a publicly-traded (NYSE:HIW), fully-integrated office real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, develops, acquires, leases and manages properties primarily in the best business districts (BBDs) of Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Nashville, Orlando, Raleigh, Richmond and Tampa.