Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Shares Sold by Shell Asset Management Co.

Shell Asset Management Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 3.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 760 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HIW. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 13,731 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Highwoods Properties in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 451,435 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,365,000 after acquiring an additional 51,367 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 875.4% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 4,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 4,237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Highwoods Properties in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HIW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Highwoods Properties from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.75.

Highwoods Properties Stock Up 1.7 %

HIW traded up $0.50 during trading on Friday, reaching $29.64. 257,316 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,087,969. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.06 and a fifty-two week high of $29.98. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.11. The stock has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.89 and a beta of 1.27.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.31). Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 18.30% and a return on equity of 6.33%. The firm had revenue of $204.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.75%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio is 163.93%.

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.