Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) Downgraded to Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Highwoods Properties has been downgraded from a "hold" to a "sell" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating a bearish outlook from this research firm.
• The current consensus rating for HIW stock is "Hold" with an average target price of $32.29, while several firms have set target prices ranging from $30 to $38.
• Insider activity revealed that Director David John Hartzell sold 4,300 shares, resulting in a 13.53% decrease in his ownership in the company.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on HIW. New Street Research set a $30.00 target price on shares of Highwoods Properties in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Highwoods Properties in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Highwoods Properties in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $32.29.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

HIW opened at $30.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.07. Highwoods Properties has a 1 year low of $24.18 and a 1 year high of $36.78. The stock has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.21 and a beta of 1.24.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.04. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 5.57%. The firm had revenue of $200.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $203.22 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. The business's revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Highwoods Properties has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.370-3.450 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Highwoods Properties will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David John Hartzell sold 4,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.10, for a total transaction of $138,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 27,489 shares of the company's stock, valued at $882,396.90. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Highwoods Properties

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of HIW. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 10.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,278 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $156,000 after buying an additional 493 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 53.9% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $771,000 after buying an additional 9,104 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 0.6% during the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 158,029 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,684,000 after buying an additional 922 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 18.0% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 23,384 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,568 shares during the period. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties in the first quarter valued at about $210,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.31% of the company's stock.

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.

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