Wellington Management Group LLP Reduces Stock Position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW - Free Report) by 71.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,531 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 74,828 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP's holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $990,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Highwoods Properties by 269.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,221 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 55.8% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,260 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Highwoods Properties by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,114 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 19.5% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,026 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on HIW. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Highwoods Properties from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.20.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

HIW traded up $0.71 during trading on Friday, reaching $30.08. 3,633,669 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,004,736. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The company has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.45 and a beta of 1.24. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.37 and a 1 year high of $36.78. The business's 50 day moving average price is $32.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.79.

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 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.74). Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 17.40% and a return on equity of 6.05%. The firm had revenue of $204.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.96 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Highwoods Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.