Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $24.38.

HIW has been the topic of several research reports. Truist Financial raised their target price on Highwoods Properties from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Highwoods Properties from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Highwoods Properties from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Highwoods Properties in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Highwoods Properties

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 1.5% during the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 28,020 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,282,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 4.9% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 9,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 7.2% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 6,573 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 46,144 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,059,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 76.6% in the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

NYSE HIW opened at $25.11 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.66 billion, a PE ratio of 18.06 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.96. Highwoods Properties has a 1-year low of $17.06 and a 1-year high of $26.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.96%. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 143.89%.

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.