Brokerages Set Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Target Price at $32.00

Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Hold" by the six brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $32.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on HIW shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 research note on Monday, May 19th. Truist Financial lowered shares of Highwoods Properties from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $32.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Highwoods Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price 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.

Institutional Trading of Highwoods Properties

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 87.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,852,877 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Highwoods Properties in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,727,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 512.9% in the 4th 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 period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,854,835 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $56,721,000 after purchasing an additional 416,791 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Highwoods Properties by 15.1% during the 1st 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 period. 96.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

Shares of HIW stock traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $30.94. 757,221 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 927,690. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.21 and a beta of 1.21. Highwoods Properties has a 52 week low of $24.19 and a 52 week high of $36.78. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $30.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.44.

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

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. Highwoods Properties's payout ratio 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.