Aew Capital Management L P Purchases Shares of 1,021,910 Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

Aew Capital Management L P purchased a new stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 1,021,910 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $31,250,000. Highwoods Properties accounts for 1.5% of Aew Capital Management L P’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 131.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,708,996 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $90,778,000 after acquiring an additional 1,536,067 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 40.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,130,452 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $107,155,000 after acquiring an additional 908,401 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 472.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 885,541 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,674,000 after acquiring an additional 730,859 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 55.9% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,267,553 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,762,000 after acquiring an additional 454,670 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Highwoods Properties by 537.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 485,368 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,264,000 after acquiring an additional 409,258 shares during the period. 96.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HIW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Highwoods Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.71.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 1.0 %

HIW opened at $29.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a PE ratio of 30.63 and a beta of 1.24. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.52 and a 1-year high of $36.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $29.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.52.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.85. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 4.33%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Highwoods Properties’s payout ratio 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.