Park Avenue Securities LLC Buys New Shares in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,223 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties in the 4th quarter worth $32,727,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Highwoods Properties by 512.9% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,274,443 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,961,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,508 shares during the period. Aew Capital Management L P bought a new position in Highwoods Properties during the fourth quarter worth about $31,250,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,265,824 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $99,869,000 after buying an additional 556,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 55.9% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,267,553 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,762,000 after buying an additional 454,670 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:HIW opened at $31.52 on Tuesday. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.19 and a 12-month high of $36.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The company has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of 33.18 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $29.21 and a 200 day moving average of $29.37.

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

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. Highwoods Properties’s payout ratio is currently 124.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HIW. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Highwoods Properties in a research note on Monday, March 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Highwoods Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.83.

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.