Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Grows Stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 25,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,521 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $792,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,289,806 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,281,000 after buying an additional 124,646 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Highwoods Properties by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,130,452 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $107,155,000 after acquiring an additional 908,401 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,133,242 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $65,235,000 after acquiring an additional 71,670 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Highwoods Properties by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,902,036 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $63,754,000 after acquiring an additional 12,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Highwoods Properties by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,541,986 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $47,154,000 after acquiring an additional 290,356 shares during the last quarter. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HIW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Highwoods Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Highwoods Properties from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Highwoods Properties in a research report on Monday, March 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.50.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 1.2 %

HIW opened at $29.85 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 31.42 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.25. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.52 and a 12-month high of $36.78. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $29.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.07.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 4.33% and a net margin of 12.37%. As a group, research analysts expect that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 210.53%.

About Highwoods Properties

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.