Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Buys 2,610 Shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its position in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 36.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,766 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,610 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Highwoods Properties during the 3rd quarter worth about $48,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 269.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,221 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 2,350 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 55.8% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 1,167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 35.1% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,114 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $135,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on HIW shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.86.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE HIW opened at $29.25 on Wednesday. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a one year low of $21.37 and a one year high of $36.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.31. The company has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.39.

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

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Highwoods Properties’s payout ratio is currently 149.25%.

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.