D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Increases Stock Position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 16.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,419 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,320 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 276.0% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 212,304 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,492,000 after purchasing an additional 155,843 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Highwoods Properties in the 4th quarter worth $296,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Highwoods Properties during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,674,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,699 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $388,000 after acquiring an additional 2,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Highwoods Properties during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $824,000. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on HIW. Wall Street Zen raised Highwoods Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Highwoods Properties in a research note on Monday, March 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.83.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HIW opened at $28.73 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.24 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.55. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.07 and a 12 month high of $36.78.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.01. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 4.33%. The business had revenue of $200.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $201.31 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.96%. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 124.22%.

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.