Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 560 Shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 3.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,106 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 560 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Highwoods Properties in the first quarter worth about $28,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in Highwoods Properties during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Spirit of America Management Corp NY purchased a new position in Highwoods Properties during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $59,000. State of Wyoming grew its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 88.4% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 3,137 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 1,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,744 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

NYSE:HIW opened at $30.22 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77 and a beta of 1.21. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.18 and a 1 year high of $36.78. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.47. 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 (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. The business had revenue of $200.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $201.31 million. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 21.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.62%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 124.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HIW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial cut Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $32.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Highwoods Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.00.

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.