Wellington Management Group LLP Trims Holdings in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Wellington Management Group LLP cut its position in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 71.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,531 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 74,828 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $990,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Highwoods Properties by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,289,806 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $244,281,000 after acquiring an additional 124,646 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 131.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,708,996 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $90,778,000 after purchasing an additional 1,536,067 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 1.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,061,572 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $69,083,000 after purchasing an additional 34,885 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Highwoods Properties by 2.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,531,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,233,000 after buying an additional 36,285 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,227,656 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,251,000 after buying an additional 56,399 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HIW opened at $29.37 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.92 and a beta of 1.24. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a one year low of $21.37 and a one year high of $36.78. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.31.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.74). The firm had revenue of $204.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.96 million. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 6.05% and a net margin of 17.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Highwoods Properties’s payout ratio is 149.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on HIW shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $31.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.20.

Highwoods Properties 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.