Sei Investments Co. Grows Position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 32.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,328,543 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 323,946 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $40,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HIW. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 38.4% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 56,612 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,731,000 after purchasing an additional 15,712 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 157.3% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 90,797 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,777,000 after acquiring an additional 55,512 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 25,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $792,000 after acquiring an additional 1,521 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc bought a new position in shares of Highwoods Properties during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,292,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 208,502 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,376,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on HIW shares. StockNews.com upgraded Highwoods Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Highwoods Properties in a research note on Monday, March 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.86.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE HIW opened at $29.34 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a PE ratio of 30.88 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $29.15 and its 200 day moving average is $31.19. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.52 and a twelve month high of $36.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41.

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

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 210.53%.

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.