Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Boosts Holdings in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 131.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,708,996 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,536,067 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $90,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Highwoods Properties by 356.3% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 219,555 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,749,000 after buying an additional 171,435 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D acquired a new stake in Highwoods Properties during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,085,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 184.7% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 27,048 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $906,000 after purchasing an additional 17,548 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 848,653 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,294,000 after buying an additional 58,634 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc grew its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 28.8% during the second quarter. M&G Plc now owns 497,584 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,937,000 after buying an additional 111,148 shares in the last quarter. 96.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on HIW. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.20.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE HIW opened at $31.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.31. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a one year low of $17.58 and a one year high of $36.78. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a PE ratio of 23.85 and a beta of 1.26.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.74). The company had revenue of $204.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.96 million. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 17.40% and a return on equity of 6.05%. The business’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 149.25%.

Highwoods Properties 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.