Deutsche Bank AG Reduces Stock Holdings in Highwoods Properties, Inc. $HIW

Key Points

• Deutsche Bank AG significantly reduced its holdings in Highwoods Properties, Inc. by 74.6%, selling 158,456 shares and retaining only 53,848 shares valued at $1,596,000.
• Institutional investors own approximately 96.31% of Highwoods Properties' stock, with several, including Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA, increasing their stakes substantially during the first quarter.
• Analysts have recently adjusted their ratings and price targets for Highwoods Properties, with Truist Financial lowering its rating to "hold" and setting a target price of $32.00.

Deutsche Bank AG decreased its position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) by 74.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,848 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 158,456 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG's holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $1,596,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 87.4% during the 1st 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. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in 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 worth $38,961,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,508 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 29.0% in 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. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Highwoods Properties in the first quarter valued at approximately $6,423,000. Finally, CORDA Investment Management LLC. increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 19.7% in the first quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC. now owns 1,019,186 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $30,209,000 after purchasing an additional 167,510 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HIW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective 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. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Highwoods Properties from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded shares of Highwoods Properties from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $32.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $32.00.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

Shares of HIW stock traded up $0.1730 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $30.0630. The company had a trading volume of 1,008,750 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,313,654. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.18 and a 52-week high of $36.78. 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 company's 50 day simple moving average is $30.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.42. The stock has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 1.21.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) last released 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. The company had revenue of $200.60 million for 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 firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. Highwoods Properties has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.370-3.450 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.7%. Highwoods Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.