M&G Plc Acquires 111,148 Shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

M&G Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 28.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 497,584 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 111,148 shares during the quarter. M&G Plc’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $12,937,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in Highwoods Properties in the first quarter valued at $34,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Highwoods Properties during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 45.5% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 141.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,073 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Highwoods Properties in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HIW opened at $30.97 on Wednesday. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.06 and a 1-year high of $31.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a PE ratio of 25.39 and a beta of 1.26. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.85.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.31). Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 18.30% and a return on equity of 6.33%. The firm had revenue of $204.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 163.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Highwoods Properties from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Highwoods Properties presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.86.

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.