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

Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,830,000 shares, an increase of 18.7% from the August 15th total of 4,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Institutional Trading of Highwoods Properties

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 0.4% during the second quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 17,500,375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $418,425,000 after acquiring an additional 70,232 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,319,629 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $439,978,000 after buying an additional 193,977 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 1.8% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,747,900 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $304,802,000 after buying an additional 229,179 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 7.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,974,055 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $161,728,000 after buying an additional 476,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 68.7% in the fourth quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 2,502,074 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $70,008,000 after buying an additional 1,019,182 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Highwoods Properties Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE HIW opened at $22.59 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.68 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. Highwoods Properties has a 52-week low of $19.45 and a 52-week high of $31.88. The business’s 50 day moving average is $24.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.07.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 18th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 138.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on HIW. Wells Fargo & Company cut Highwoods Properties from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $27.00 to $22.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 30th. SpectralCast restated a “maintains” rating on shares of Highwoods Properties in a report on Tuesday, May 30th. StockNews.com began coverage on Highwoods Properties in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Highwoods Properties in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Highwoods Properties from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.57.

Highwoods Properties Company Profile

Highwoods Properties, Inc, headquartered in Raleigh, is a publicly-traded (NYSE:HIW) real estate investment trust (REIT) and a member of the S&P MidCap 400 Index. The Company is a fully-integrated office 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.