Oak Thistle LLC Takes Position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 31,158 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $924,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HIW. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted 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 valued at $181,358,000 after acquiring an additional 2,852,877 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Highwoods Properties during the 4th quarter valued at $32,727,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 512.9% during 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. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 29.0% during the 4th 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. Finally, Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC bought a new stake in Highwoods Properties during the 4th quarter valued at $11,600,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Highwoods Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho upped their price objective 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. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Highwoods Properties from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $32.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $32.00.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

NYSE HIW traded down $0.01 on Friday, reaching $30.22. 734,286 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 695,703. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.18 and a 12 month high of $36.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.47. The stock has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a PE ratio of 18.77 and a beta of 1.21.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.01. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 21.53% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The firm had revenue of $200.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $201.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.62%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. Highwoods Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 124.22%.

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.