US Bancorp DE Sells 1,504 Shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. $HIW

US Bancorp DE trimmed its position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 6.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,504 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $653,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of HIW. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 87.4% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,118,701 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $181,358,000 after purchasing an additional 2,852,877 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 15.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,959,480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $87,719,000 after purchasing an additional 388,332 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties in the 1st quarter valued at about $9,331,000. Eisler Capital Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties in the 1st quarter valued at about $6,811,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 66.3% in the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 549,136 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,276,000 after purchasing an additional 218,980 shares during the period. 96.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HIW shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Highwoods Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Highwoods Properties in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Finally, New Street Research set a $30.00 price target on shares of Highwoods Properties in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.29.

Highwoods Properties Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of HIW opened at $30.01 on Monday. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.18 and a 52 week high of $36.78. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.21 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 5.57%. The firm had revenue of $200.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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. On average, analysts forecast that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 168.07%.

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.