Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Receives $31.20 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the six analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $31.17.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HIW. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd.

Institutional Trading of Highwoods Properties

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of HIW. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 44.4% in the fourth quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 70,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,154,000 after acquiring an additional 21,655 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Highwoods Properties during the third quarter worth approximately $208,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Highwoods Properties by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,130,452 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $107,155,000 after purchasing an additional 908,401 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,902,036 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $63,754,000 after buying an additional 12,958 shares during the period. 96.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HIW opened at $29.91 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $31.66 and its 200-day moving average is $31.28. Highwoods Properties has a twelve month low of $21.37 and a twelve month high of $36.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32 and a beta of 1.24.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.74). Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 17.40% and a return on equity of 6.05%. The business had revenue of $204.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Highwoods Properties will post 3.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio is 149.25%.

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.