Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Short Interest Up 31.5% in March

Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,260,000 shares, an increase of 31.5% from the March 15th total of 4,000,000 shares. Currently, 5.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 375.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 855 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in Highwoods Properties in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 124.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,434 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,351 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 363.7% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,972 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 2,331 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the period. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

NYSE HIW opened at $27.53 on Monday. Highwoods Properties has a 12-month low of $24.03 and a 12-month high of $36.78. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $28.37 and its 200-day moving average is $30.44. The company has a market capitalization of $2.97 billion, a PE ratio of 28.98 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41.

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

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.26%. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.