Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 148,066 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,016 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.14% of Highwoods Properties worth $4,528,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,289,806 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,281,000 after acquiring an additional 124,646 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,130,452 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $107,155,000 after purchasing an additional 908,401 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 131.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,708,996 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $90,778,000 after purchasing an additional 1,536,067 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Highwoods Properties by 1.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,061,572 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $69,083,000 after purchasing an additional 34,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,902,036 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $63,754,000 after buying an additional 12,958 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HIW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Highwoods Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.71.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

Shares of HIW opened at $29.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.14 and a 1 year high of $36.78. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $29.71 and a 200-day moving average of $31.57. The company has a market cap of $3.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.01 and a beta of 1.24.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 4.33%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 210.53%.

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.