Park Avenue Securities LLC Sells 475 Shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lessened its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,996 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 475 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $268,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. PGGM Investments grew its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 77.9% in the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 3,629,485 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $95,347,000 after buying an additional 1,589,730 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 86.8% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,172,929 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,813,000 after purchasing an additional 545,066 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties during the 1st quarter valued at $10,047,000. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties during the 1st quarter valued at $8,444,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 245.6% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 430,975 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,283,000 after purchasing an additional 306,265 shares in the last quarter. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HIW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $22.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.86.

Highwoods Properties Stock Up 1.5 %

HIW opened at $33.61 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.06 and a fifty-two week high of $33.96. The company has a fifty day moving average of $32.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.55 and a beta of 1.26.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.31). The firm had revenue of $204.74 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $205.06 million. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 6.33% and a net margin of 18.30%. Highwoods Properties’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.95%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. 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.