The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Increases Stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 2.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 21,537 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 511 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in Highwoods Properties during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 45.5% during the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,855 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Highwoods Properties by 141.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,073 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 63.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,766 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 1,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Highwoods Properties during the 1st quarter worth about $107,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HIW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $22.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.86.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of HIW stock opened at $35.26 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $32.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.06 and a 1-year high of $35.95. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of 28.90 and a beta of 1.26.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.31). The firm had revenue of $204.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.06 million. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 18.30% and a return on equity of 6.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current year.

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.