Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Position Increased by Venturi Wealth Management LLC

Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 26.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,111 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $126,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in Highwoods Properties by 184.7% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 27,048 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $906,000 after acquiring an additional 17,548 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D acquired a new stake in Highwoods Properties in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,085,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Highwoods Properties by 436.3% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 215,724 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,229,000 after acquiring an additional 175,499 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Highwoods Properties by 65.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $220,000 after acquiring an additional 2,587 shares during the period. Finally, Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its position in Highwoods Properties by 141.2% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 36,647 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,228,000 after acquiring an additional 21,455 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on HIW shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com cut Highwoods Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Highwoods Properties from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.71.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HIW opened at $29.22 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.76 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.58. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.14 and a 52-week high of $36.78.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 4.33% and a net margin of 12.37%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.84%. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 210.53%.

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.