Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Sell”

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Friday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Mizuho upped their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Highwoods Properties in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.60.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE HIW opened at $32.43 on Friday. Highwoods Properties has a 52 week low of $24.18 and a 52 week high of $36.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.25 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $30.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.97.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.04. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 5.57% and a net margin of 16.15%.The company had revenue of $200.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $203.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Highwoods Properties has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.370-3.450 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Highwoods Properties will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 168.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Highwoods Properties news, Director David John Hartzell sold 4,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.10, for a total value of $138,030.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 27,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $882,396.90. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HIW. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 222.6% during the 3rd quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,663 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $944,000 after purchasing an additional 20,468 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 30.6% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 35,330 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,098,000 after purchasing an additional 8,270 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 45,871 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,424,000 after purchasing an additional 1,749 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC grew its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 38.4% during the 2nd quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 123,169 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,573,000 after purchasing an additional 34,165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $180,000. 96.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Highwoods Properties Company Profile

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.