Kovack Advisors Inc. Has $293,000 Stock Position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Kovack Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 23.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,573 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,908 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $293,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 59,698 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,826,000 after purchasing an additional 4,633 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,541,986 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $47,154,000 after purchasing an additional 290,356 shares during the period. Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC now owns 9,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Highwoods Properties in the fourth quarter worth $500,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 55.9% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,267,553 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,762,000 after purchasing an additional 454,670 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on HIW shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut Highwoods Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Highwoods Properties from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.71.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

NYSE:HIW opened at $29.10 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.63 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $29.53 and its 200-day moving average is $31.52. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.52 and a 1-year high of $36.78.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.85. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 4.33% and a net margin of 12.37%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 210.53%.

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.