New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Stock Holdings in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its position in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 46,185 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 6,500 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $1,412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HIW. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in 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 worth $90,778,000 after acquiring an additional 1,536,067 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Highwoods Properties by 40.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,130,452 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $107,155,000 after purchasing an additional 908,401 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 472.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 885,541 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,674,000 after buying an additional 730,859 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 537.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 485,368 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,264,000 after purchasing an additional 409,258 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 319.1% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 479,972 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,678,000 after buying an additional 365,454 shares in the last quarter. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HIW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. 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. StockNews.com lowered Highwoods Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Highwoods Properties from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.71.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:HIW opened at $29.10 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.53 and a 200 day moving average of $31.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.63 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.52 and a 52 week high of $36.78.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.87%. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 210.53%.

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.