EMC Capital Management Buys Shares of 6,025 Highwoods Properties, Inc. $HIW

EMC Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 6,025 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $187,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Highwoods Properties by 3.4% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 17,106 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties in the 2nd quarter worth about $300,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,908 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $205,000 after buying an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Highwoods Properties by 28.5% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 16,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $483,000 after acquiring an additional 3,613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 34.3% during the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 38,830 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,207,000 after acquiring an additional 9,910 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David John Hartzell sold 4,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.10, for a total transaction of $138,030.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 27,489 shares in the company, valued at $882,396.90. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Highwoods Properties Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE HIW opened at $28.07 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $30.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.99 and a beta of 1.20. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.18 and a 1 year high of $33.11.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86. The company had revenue of $201.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.74 million. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 5.48% and a net margin of 15.98%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. Highwoods Properties has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.410-3.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.1%. Highwoods Properties’s payout ratio is 170.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HIW has been the topic of several recent research reports. New Street Research set a $30.00 price target on shares of Highwoods Properties in a report on Monday, October 13th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Highwoods Properties in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Highwoods Properties from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.00.

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.