Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Plans $0.50 Quarterly Dividend

Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, NASDAQ reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, June 11th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th.

Highwoods Properties has raised its dividend by an average of 1.4% annually over the last three years. Highwoods Properties has a payout ratio of 487.8% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Highwoods Properties to earn $3.53 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 56.7%.

Highwoods Properties Price Performance

NYSE HIW traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $23.96. The stock had a trading volume of 763,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,289,742. Highwoods Properties has a twelve month low of $17.06 and a twelve month high of $26.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $24.50 and its 200 day moving average is $22.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24 and a beta of 1.23.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Highwoods Properties

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Highwoods Properties during the 4th quarter worth $33,512,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 316.6% during the first quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,161,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $26,933,000 after buying an additional 882,638 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 4,897.7% during the first quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 843,120 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $19,552,000 after acquiring an additional 826,250 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,343,699 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $290,161,000 after acquiring an additional 781,475 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,829,467 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $724,040,000 after acquiring an additional 699,104 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Highwoods Properties from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Highwoods Properties in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.38.

About Highwoods Properties

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.