Wellington Management Group LLP Increases Stock Position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 328.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 126,631 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 97,100 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $3,872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 72.6% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 21,956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 9,235 shares during the last quarter. B&I Capital AG raised its stake in Highwoods Properties by 111.7% during the 4th quarter. B&I Capital AG now owns 262,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,027,000 after acquiring an additional 138,500 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Highwoods Properties by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,133,242 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $65,235,000 after acquiring an additional 71,670 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 65.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 2,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC increased its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 44.4% in the fourth quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 70,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,154,000 after purchasing an additional 21,655 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Highwoods Properties in a report on Monday, March 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com cut Highwoods Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Mizuho raised their price target on Highwoods Properties from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.50.

Highwoods Properties Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:HIW opened at $26.38 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The company has a market capitalization of $2.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.77 and a beta of 1.15. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.52 and a 52-week high of $36.78. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.66.

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

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.58%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 210.53%.

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.