State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Acquires New Shares in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new position in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 62,220 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $2,085,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned approximately 0.06% of Highwoods Properties as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 13,653 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 3.6% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 10,766 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $283,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 11.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,206 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 5.7% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,254 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Presima Securities ULC increased its position in Highwoods Properties by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Presima Securities ULC now owns 52,536 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,760,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on HIW. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has 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 $31.20.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

NYSE:HIW opened at $31.64 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.61 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $33.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.93. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41.

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

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 149.25%.

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.