Aew Capital Management L P Acquires 136,200 Shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. $HIW

Key Points

• Aew Capital Management L P increased its stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. by 13.3% in Q1, now holding over 1.15 million shares, which is about 1.7% of its portfolio.
• Highwoods Properties reported $0.89 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding forecasts, but saw a 2.0% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, representing an annual yield of 6.7% and a payout ratio of 168.07%.

Aew Capital Management L P grew its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) by 13.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,158,110 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 136,200 shares during the quarter. Highwoods Properties accounts for approximately 1.7% of Aew Capital Management L P's holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Aew Capital Management L P owned approximately 1.07% of Highwoods Properties worth $34,326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake 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 worth $181,358,000 after acquiring an additional 2,852,877 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 0.3% in the first 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 buying an additional 10,331 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 15.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,959,480 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $87,719,000 after buying an additional 388,332 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 7.3% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,989,894 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $58,980,000 after buying an additional 135,059 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake 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 worth $38,961,000 after buying an additional 1,066,508 shares during the period. 96.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HIW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Highwoods Properties from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Truist Financial downgraded shares of 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. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $32.00.

Highwoods Properties Trading Down 0.4%

Highwoods Properties stock traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $30.69. 517,703 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 999,002. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $30.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.79 and a beta of 1.21. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.18 and a 52-week 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, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. The company'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, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. Highwoods Properties's payout ratio is 168.07%.

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.