New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 11,100 Shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 7.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 136,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 11,100 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.13% of Highwoods Properties worth $4,060,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 20.6% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,265,824 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $99,869,000 after acquiring an additional 556,828 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,133,242 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $65,235,000 after acquiring an additional 71,670 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,854,835 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $56,721,000 after acquiring an additional 416,791 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,328,543 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,627,000 after acquiring an additional 323,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $38,961,000 after buying an additional 1,066,508 shares during the last quarter. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Highwoods Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Highwoods Properties in a research report on Monday, March 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Truist Financial cut Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $32.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.83.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

NYSE:HIW opened at $31.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.50. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.19 and a 1 year high of $36.78. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.40. The company has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.47 and a beta of 1.21.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 21.53%. The business had revenue of $200.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $201.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.38%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. Highwoods Properties’s payout ratio is 124.22%.

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.