Highwoods Properties, Inc. $HIW Shares Bought by AQR Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 10.1% during the first quarter, now owning approximately 688,858 shares valued at $20.2 million.
• Highwoods Properties recently reported earnings per share of $0.89, exceeding analyst expectations, despite a revenue decline of 2.0% compared to the previous year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 6.2%, although it has a high dividend payout ratio of 168.07%.

AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) by 10.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 688,858 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 62,928 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.64% of Highwoods Properties worth $20,221,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Highwoods Properties by 87.4% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,118,701 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $181,358,000 after buying an additional 2,852,877 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,660,872 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $108,509,000 after acquiring an additional 10,331 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $87,719,000 after acquiring an additional 388,332 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,989,894 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $58,980,000 after purchasing an additional 135,059 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,066,508 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on HIW. Wall Street Zen upgraded Highwoods Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 19th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $32.17.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE HIW traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $32.40. 1,009,338 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,047,732. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of 27.23 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.18 and a 1-year high of $36.78. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $30.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.66.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $200.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $203.22 million. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 5.57% and a net margin of 16.15%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. Highwoods Properties has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.370-3.450 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

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

Highwoods Properties Company 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.