Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) by 1.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,061,572 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 34,885 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.94% of Highwoods Properties worth $69,083,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HIW. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 13,653 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 10,766 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $283,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,206 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,254 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Presima Securities ULC increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 1.0% in the third quarter. Presima Securities ULC now owns 52,536 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,760,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on HIW shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Highwoods Properties from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.20.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HIW traded up $0.02 on Friday, reaching $32.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 435,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 998,394. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.56 and a 52-week high of $36.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.28 and a beta of 1.26. The stock's 50-day moving average is $33.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.31.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.74). Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 17.40% and a return on equity of 6.05%. The company had revenue of $204.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $204.96 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.62 EPS for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.16%. Highwoods Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 149.25%.

Highwoods Properties 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.