State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Purchases New Shares in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D acquired a new position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 62,220 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $2,085,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 5.7% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,254 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 110,264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,695,000 after purchasing an additional 25,287 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC grew its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 26.8% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 631,159 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $21,459,000 after buying an additional 133,575 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 141.2% during the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 36,647 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,228,000 after buying an additional 21,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 7.7% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 25,099 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $841,000 after buying an additional 1,795 shares during the last quarter. 96.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

Shares of HIW stock opened at $31.64 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.61 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a 50 day moving average of $33.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.93. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.58 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.

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

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.32%. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 149.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on HIW shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Truist Financial increased their target price on Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.20.

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.