Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Position Increased by Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 135,299 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 970 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $4,534,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Highwoods Properties in the 3rd quarter worth $48,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 269.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,221 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 55.8% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,114 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $135,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 19.5% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,026 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $168,000 after buying an additional 820 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HIW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.20.

Highwoods Properties Stock Up 0.9 %

Highwoods Properties stock opened at $31.07 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $33.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.65. The firm has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of 23.19 and a beta of 1.24. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.37 and a twelve month high of $36.78. 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 (NYSE:HIW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.74). Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 6.05% and a net margin of 17.40%. The firm had revenue of $204.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $204.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. Highwoods Properties’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.44%. Highwoods Properties’s payout ratio is 149.25%.

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.