Legal & General Group Plc Sells 76,270 Shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 772,581 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 76,270 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.73% of Highwoods Properties worth $23,626,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Polymer Capital Management US LLC acquired a new stake in Highwoods Properties in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 83.8% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 788,693 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $24,118,000 after purchasing an additional 359,613 shares during the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC bought a new position in shares of Highwoods Properties during the 4th quarter valued at $234,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties in the 4th quarter valued at $1,277,000. Finally, Helix Partners Management LP bought a new stake in Highwoods Properties in the fourth quarter worth $6,116,000. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 0.9 %

HIW traded up $0.24 during trading on Friday, reaching $27.53. 623,527 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 914,011. The company's fifty day moving average price is $28.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 billion, a PE ratio of 28.98 and a beta of 1.15. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.77 and a fifty-two week high of $36.78.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.85. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 4.33%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.26%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Highwoods Properties's dividend payout ratio is 210.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on HIW shares. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Highwoods Properties in a report on Monday, March 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Highwoods Properties from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $32.50.

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.