QRG Capital Management Inc. Acquires 1,105 Shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. $HIW

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 4.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 25,748 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,105 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake 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 during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 4.0% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 534,155 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,832,000 after purchasing an additional 20,458 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 35.7% during the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 28,920 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 7,601 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 7.7% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,908 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 10.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,278 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

Shares of Highwoods Properties stock opened at $30.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.97 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.05. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.18 and a fifty-two week high of $36.78.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $200.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $203.22 million. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 5.57%. Highwoods Properties’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Highwoods Properties has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.370-3.450 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.5%. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 168.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Highwoods Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Highwoods Properties in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Highwoods Properties in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Highwoods Properties

In related news, Director David John Hartzell sold 4,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.10, for a total value of $138,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 27,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $882,396.90. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.