New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 19,500 Shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its holdings in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) by 11.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 150,082 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 19,500 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.14% of Highwoods Properties worth $5,029,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Highwoods Properties by 45.5% in the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,855 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 141.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,073 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 1,214 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties during the first quarter worth approximately $107,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 269.8% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,221 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 2,350 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 11.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,206 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.31% of the company's stock.

Highwoods Properties Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:HIW traded up $0.40 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $33.67. 1,009,760 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 993,114. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $33.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.59. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.17 and a 52 week high of $36.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The company has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.83 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.94%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Highwoods Properties's dividend payout ratio is presently 149.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HIW. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Highwoods Properties from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price target for the company from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $29.33.

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.