Nicola Wealth Management LTD. Acquires 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 position in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F 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 recently added to or reduced their stakes in HIW. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,441 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 879 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Highwoods Properties in the 4th quarter valued at about $824,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Highwoods Properties by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,699 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $388,000 after acquiring an additional 2,619 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Highwoods Properties during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $296,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Highwoods Properties by 276.0% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 212,304 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $6,492,000 after acquiring an additional 155,843 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.31% of the company's stock.

Highwoods Properties Stock Down 0.4%

Highwoods Properties stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $32.08. 334,227 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,012,604. The company has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a PE ratio of 26.95 and a beta of 1.27. The company's fifty day moving average price is $30.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.18 and a fifty-two week high of $36.78.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.04. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 5.57% and a net margin of 16.15%.The firm had revenue of $200.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $203.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Highwoods Properties's quarterly 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, research analysts predict that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued 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 payout ratio is 168.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on HIW shares. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Highwoods Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $32.17.

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.