Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its holdings in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,511 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 9,674 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.12% of Highwoods Properties worth $3,991,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 375.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 855 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 124.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,434 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,351 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 363.7% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,972 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 2,331 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,052 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,744 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 791 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on HIW. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Highwoods Properties in a research note on Monday, March 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Highwoods Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Highwoods Properties has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $32.50.

Highwoods Properties Stock Down 0.2 %

HIW traded down $0.06 on Thursday, hitting $29.03. 107,794 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 908,823. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $28.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The company has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.56 and a beta of 1.20. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.07 and a twelve month high of $36.78.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.01. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 4.33% and a net margin of 12.37%. The firm had revenue of $200.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $201.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities 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, June 10th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.89%. Highwoods Properties's dividend payout ratio is currently 124.22%.

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.