Nicola Wealth Management LTD. Purchases New Shares in Highwoods Properties, Inc. $HIW

Key Points

• Nicola Wealth Management LTD acquired 19,800 shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc., valued at approximately $587,000, highlighting continued institutional interest in the real estate investment trust.
• Highwoods Properties reported a net margin of 16.15% and earnings per share of $0.89 for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 6.2%, although its dividend payout ratio is significantly high at 168.07%.

Nicola Wealth Management LTD. acquired a new stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 19,800 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $587,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HIW. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Highwoods Properties by 87.4% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,118,701 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $181,358,000 after buying an additional 2,852,877 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Highwoods Properties by 512.9% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,066,508 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Highwoods Properties by 15.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,959,480 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $87,719,000 after buying an additional 388,332 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Highwoods Properties in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $9,331,000. Finally, Eisler Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Highwoods Properties during the 1st quarter valued at $6,811,000. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HIW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Highwoods Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Mizuho boosted their price target 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, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $32.17.

Highwoods Properties Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE HIW traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $32.22. The company had a trading volume of 1,018,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,015,769. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a PE ratio of 27.07 and a beta of 1.27. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a one year low of $24.18 and a one year high of $36.78. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $30.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $200.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $203.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Highwoods Properties has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.370-3.450 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.2%. Highwoods Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 168.07%.

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.