Geode Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,902,036 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,958 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.79% of Highwoods Properties worth $63,754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HIW. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties during the third quarter worth $48,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 269.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,221 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 2,350 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 55.8% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 1,167 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Highwoods Properties by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,114 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 19.5% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,026 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Highwoods Properties Stock Up 2.4 %

HIW opened at $30.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 22.45 and a beta of 1.24. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.37 and a twelve month high of $36.78. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $32.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.82. 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 announced 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 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.65%. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 149.25%.

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.