Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Lowers Position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 191,986 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 840 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $6,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

HIW stock opened at $31.07 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.37 and a 12-month high of $36.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of 23.19 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.44%. Highwoods Properties’s payout ratio is presently 149.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on HIW shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.20.

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.