Wall Street Zen Downgrades Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) to Sell

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on HIW. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Mizuho increased their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. New Street Research set a $30.00 price objective on Highwoods Properties in a report on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Highwoods Properties in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Highwoods Properties in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.29.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

Shares of HIW opened at $29.79 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.03 and a beta of 1.24. Highwoods Properties has a fifty-two week low of $24.18 and a fifty-two week high of $36.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The business’s 50-day moving average is $30.96 and its 200-day moving average is $30.11.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $203.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Highwoods Properties has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.370-3.450 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Highwoods Properties will post 3.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Highwoods Properties

In other news, Director David John Hartzell sold 4,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 27,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $882,396.90. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Highwoods Properties

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 1.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,564,027 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $204,076,000 after acquiring an additional 86,506 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 87.4% in the first 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 acquiring an additional 2,852,877 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 0.3% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,660,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $108,509,000 after acquiring an additional 10,331 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 15.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,959,480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $87,719,000 after acquiring an additional 388,332 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 0.4% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,190,938 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $68,116,000 after acquiring an additional 8,525 shares during the period. 96.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.