Strs Ohio Purchases Shares of 173,618 Highwoods Properties, Inc. $HIW

Key Points

• Strs Ohio invested approximately $5.15 million in Highwoods Properties by acquiring 173,618 shares, representing a 0.16% ownership stake.
• Highwoods Properties recently reported $0.89 EPS, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.85, although revenue decreased by 2.0% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50, resulting in an annualized yield of 6.2%, with a payout ratio of 168.07%.

Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 173,618 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $5,146,000. Strs Ohio owned 0.16% of Highwoods Properties at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew 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 worth $181,358,000 after purchasing an additional 2,852,877 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 388,332 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Highwoods Properties during the first quarter valued at approximately $9,331,000. Eisler Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Highwoods Properties during the 1st quarter worth approximately $6,811,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 66.3% in the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 549,136 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $16,276,000 after purchasing an additional 218,980 shares during the last quarter. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on HIW. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target 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 upgraded shares of Highwoods Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $32.17.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

Highwoods Properties stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $32.17. 1,169,413 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,052,647. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $30.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.71. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.03 and a beta of 1.27.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.04. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 5.57% and a net margin of 16.15%.The business had revenue of $200.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $203.22 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter 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 EPS for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.2%. Highwoods Properties's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.