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

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

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 141.3% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,073 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 269.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,221 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 55.8% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 1,167 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the period. 96.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on HIW. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.20.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

Shares of HIW opened at $32.47 on Friday. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.56 and a 1-year high of $36.78. The stock has a market cap of $3.44 billion, a PE ratio of 24.23 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $33.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.27.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.14 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $204.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $204.96 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. Highwoods Properties’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.62 EPS for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.16%. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 149.25%.

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.