Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) in a note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $32.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 13.62% from the stock’s current price.

HIW has been the topic of several other research reports. Mizuho increased 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. StockNews.com upgraded Highwoods Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.86.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

Shares of HIW stock opened at $28.16 on Monday. Highwoods Properties has a fifty-two week low of $23.52 and a fifty-two week high of $36.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.65 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.31.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 4.33%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Highwoods Properties will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Highwoods Properties

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Highwoods Properties by 131.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,708,996 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $90,778,000 after acquiring an additional 1,536,067 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Highwoods Properties during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,727,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 512.9% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,274,443 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,961,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,508 shares in the last quarter. Aew Capital Management L P acquired a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,250,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Highwoods Properties by 40.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,130,452 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $107,155,000 after buying an additional 908,401 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

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.