Public Sector Pension Investment Board Lowers Stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lessened its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 224,899 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 8,300 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned approximately 0.21% of Highwoods Properties worth $7,536,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HIW. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Highwoods Properties by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 57,081 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,495,000 after acquiring an additional 3,229 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake 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 worth $5,749,000 after acquiring an additional 171,435 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Highwoods Properties in the 1st quarter worth $7,215,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Highwoods Properties by 45.5% in the 1st quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,855 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Highwoods Properties by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,206 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on HIW shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.20.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

NYSE:HIW opened at $32.47 on Friday. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.56 and a 52 week high of $36.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a PE ratio of 24.23 and a beta of 1.26. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $33.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.27.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last posted 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). Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 17.40% and a return on equity of 6.05%. The business had revenue of $204.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.96 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. Highwoods Properties’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.16%. The ex-dividend date 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.