Pensionfund DSM Netherlands Sells 5,000 Shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Pensionfund DSM Netherlands decreased its holdings in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 20.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 5,000 shares during the quarter. Pensionfund DSM Netherlands’ holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $606,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 131.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,536,067 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Highwoods Properties by 40.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,130,452 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $107,155,000 after purchasing an additional 908,401 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Highwoods Properties by 472.5% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 885,541 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,674,000 after buying an additional 730,859 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 537.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 485,368 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,264,000 after buying an additional 409,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 109.5% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 552,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,501,000 after buying an additional 288,500 shares during the last quarter. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.17.

Highwoods Properties Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:HIW traded down $0.09 on Monday, hitting $30.69. The stock had a trading volume of 26,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 518,032. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.31. The stock has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.90 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.25. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.37 and a 1 year high of $36.78.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last issued its 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 return on equity of 6.05% and a net margin of 17.40%. The business had revenue of $204.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $204.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. Highwoods Properties’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Highwoods Properties’s payout ratio 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.