Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Buys 2,995 Shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. $HIW

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 1.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 188,923 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,995 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned approximately 0.18% of Highwoods Properties worth $5,874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Avalon Trust Co purchased a new position in Highwoods Properties during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 292.5% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,680 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 1,252 shares during the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY bought a new stake in Highwoods Properties in the 1st quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties during the 1st quarter worth approximately $82,000. Institutional investors own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David John Hartzell sold 4,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.10, for a total transaction of $138,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 27,489 shares in the company, valued at $882,396.90. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on HIW. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Highwoods Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.17.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of HIW opened at $31.26 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.88. The company has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.27 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.18 and a twelve month high of $36.78.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.04. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 5.57%. The company had revenue of $200.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $203.22 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Highwoods Properties has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.370-3.450 EPS. As a group, analysts expect 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 was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 168.07%.

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.