Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Thursday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on HIW. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.71.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of HIW stock opened at $29.25 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.31. The company has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83 and a beta of 1.24. Highwoods Properties has a 52-week low of $22.60 and a 52-week high of $36.78. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.62.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.85. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 6.05% and a net margin of 17.40%. Research analysts anticipate that Highwoods Properties will post 3.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 149.25%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HIW. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 7.8% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,641 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 624 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 13.6% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 49,684 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,665,000 after purchasing an additional 5,932 shares during the period. Presima Securities ULC raised its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 1.0% in the third quarter. Presima Securities ULC now owns 52,536 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,760,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 269.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,221 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 2,350 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,247 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 1,191 shares during the last quarter. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.