Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Purchases 28,645 Shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) by 130.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,657 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 28,645 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.'s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $1,549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in 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 worth $26,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 124.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,434 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,351 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Highwoods Properties by 363.7% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,972 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $91,000 after buying an additional 2,331 shares during the last quarter. 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 worth $114,000 after buying an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Highwoods Properties by 26.1% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,111 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $126,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on HIW. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Highwoods Properties in a research note on Monday, March 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Highwoods Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $31.83.

Highwoods Properties Stock Down 0.9%

Highwoods Properties stock traded down $0.26 on Tuesday, hitting $29.95. 1,081,343 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 915,788. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $28.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.67. The firm has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.53 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.07 and a 1 year high of $36.78.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $200.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $201.31 million. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 4.33%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given 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 6.68%. Highwoods Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.