Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Shares Bought by Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 54.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,321 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 14,567 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $1,264,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 72.6% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 21,956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $671,000 after buying an additional 9,235 shares during the last quarter. B&I Capital AG grew its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 111.7% in the 4th quarter. B&I Capital AG now owns 262,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,027,000 after buying an additional 138,500 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,133,242 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $65,235,000 after buying an additional 71,670 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $367,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Highwoods Properties in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,565,000. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HIW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Highwoods Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Highwoods Properties in a research note on Monday, March 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.50.

Highwoods Properties Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:HIW opened at $29.49 on Friday. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.07 and a fifty-two week high of $36.78. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $28.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.94. 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 cap of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.04 and a beta of 1.20.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $200.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $201.31 million. Highwoods Properties had a return on equity of 4.33% and a net margin of 12.37%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.78%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 124.22%.

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.