Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) Raised to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Highwoods Properties was upgraded from a "sell" to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating a more favorable outlook for the stock.
• Analysts have set an average target price of $32.17 for Highwoods Properties, with ratings of "hold" from multiple brokerages, while Mizuho recently increased their price target to $30.00.
• The company reported an EPS of $0.89 for the latest quarter, surpassing expectations, although revenue decreased by 2.0% year-over-year.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 report on Monday, May 19th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. 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 report on Monday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $32.17.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE HIW traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $32.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 771,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,081,744. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $30.42 and a 200 day moving average of $29.74. Highwoods Properties has a twelve month low of $24.18 and a twelve month high of $36.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.03 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $200.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $203.22 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Highwoods Properties'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 forecast that Highwoods Properties will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.2%. Highwoods Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 168.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David John Hartzell sold 4,300 shares of the 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Highwoods Properties

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 1.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,564,027 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $204,076,000 after acquiring an additional 86,506 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised 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 acquiring an additional 2,852,877 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 0.3% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,660,872 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $108,509,000 after acquiring an additional 10,331 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 15.1% during 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 period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 0.4% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,190,938 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $68,116,000 after acquiring an additional 8,525 shares during the period. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.