Handelsbanken Fonder AB Purchases 12,000 Shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 74.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,223 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,000 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $648,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HIW. CWM LLC raised its position in Highwoods Properties by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,254 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,328,382 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $53,459,000 after buying an additional 9,397 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 40,989 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $941,000 after acquiring an additional 2,241 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its position in Highwoods Properties by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 124,710 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,863,000 after acquiring an additional 8,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Highwoods Properties in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,215,000. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on HIW. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Highwoods Properties in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial raised their target price on Highwoods Properties from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Highwoods Properties from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Highwoods Properties presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.38.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

HIW stock opened at $26.30 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $24.75 and a 200 day moving average of $22.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.56 and a beta of 1.23. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.06 and a 1 year high of $26.42.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. Highwoods Properties’s payout ratio is presently 163.93%.

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.