Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Short Interest Update

Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,940,000 shares, a growth of 7.4% from the March 31st total of 6,460,000 shares. Currently, 6.7% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,280,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.4 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HIW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,371,014 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $358,017,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139,688 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 42.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,614,624 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $105,952,000 after acquiring an additional 1,364,176 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,328,382 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $53,459,000 after acquiring an additional 9,397 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments acquired a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,833,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,898,083 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $43,580,000 after acquiring an additional 124,577 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HIW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Highwoods Properties in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a "buy" rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $24.38.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HIW traded down $0.31 on Wednesday, hitting $25.89. 1,398,836 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,277,757. The company's 50 day moving average price is $24.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.46. Highwoods Properties has a one year low of $17.06 and a one year high of $26.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.65 and a beta of 1.23.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.72%. Highwoods Properties's payout ratio is 163.93%.

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.

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