First Trust Advisors LP Has $3.99 Million Position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 130,511 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 9,674 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.12% of Highwoods Properties worth $3,991,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HIW. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 375.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Highwoods Properties by 124.7% during the fourth 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 period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Highwoods Properties by 363.7% during the fourth 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 lifted its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,052 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 791 shares during the period. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HIW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Highwoods Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Highwoods Properties in a research report on Monday, March 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $32.50.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HIW traded up $0.03 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $29.22. The company had a trading volume of 797,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 910,383. The firm's fifty day moving average is $28.20 and its 200 day moving average is $30.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of 30.76 and a beta of 1.15. 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 quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 4.33% and a net margin of 12.37%. The company had revenue of $200.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $201.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.84%. Highwoods Properties's dividend payout ratio is currently 124.22%.

Highwoods Properties Company 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.