Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Shares Sold by Commerce Bank

Key Points

• Commerce Bank reduced its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 28.6% in Q1, selling 14,552 shares, and now owns 36,317 shares valued at approximately $1,076,000.
• A recent analysis shows that the stock currently holds an average rating of "Hold" with a consensus target price of $32.00 across multiple research reports.
• Highwoods Properties announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, reflecting a strong yield of 6.9%, though its payout ratio currently exceeds 168%.

Commerce Bank lessened its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) by 28.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 36,317 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 14,552 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank's holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $1,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $181,358,000 after acquiring an additional 2,852,877 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 512.9% during 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. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,854,835 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $56,721,000 after purchasing an additional 416,791 shares in the last quarter. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC bought a new position in Highwoods Properties in the fourth quarter valued at about $11,600,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 83.8% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 788,693 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $24,118,000 after buying an additional 359,613 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.31% of the company's stock.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

NYSE HIW traded down $0.08 during trading on Friday, hitting $28.67. 1,088,457 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,115,873. The company has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.09 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.43. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.18 and a 12-month high of $36.78.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $200.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $203.22 million. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 5.57% and a net margin of 16.15%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Highwoods Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 168.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HIW. Mizuho lifted their target price on Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Truist Financial downgraded Highwoods Properties from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $32.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Highwoods Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $32.00.

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.