Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Shares Acquired by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) by 319.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 479,972 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 365,454 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.45% of Highwoods Properties worth $14,678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of HIW. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Highwoods Properties by 2.4% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 21,537 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $566,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in Highwoods Properties by 7.8% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,641 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in Highwoods Properties by 13.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 49,684 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,665,000 after purchasing an additional 5,932 shares during the last quarter. Presima Securities ULC increased its position in Highwoods Properties by 1.0% during the third quarter. Presima Securities ULC now owns 52,536 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,760,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Highwoods Properties by 269.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,221 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 2,350 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price objective 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. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Highwoods Properties from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $30.71.

Highwoods Properties Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of HIW stock traded down $0.03 on Friday, hitting $29.23. The stock had a trading volume of 1,169,839 shares, compared to its average volume of 816,498. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.82 and a beta of 1.24. The stock's 50 day moving average is $29.86 and its 200-day moving average is $31.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.31. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.60 and a 52-week high of $36.78.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW - Get Free Report) last posted 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 17.40% and a return on equity of 6.05%. As a group, research analysts expect that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.84%. Highwoods Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 149.25%.

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.