Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) Price Target Raised to $21.00 at Morgan Stanley

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) had its price target boosted by Morgan Stanley from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on HIW. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Highwoods Properties in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a buy rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $24.38.

Highwoods Properties Trading Up 1.0 %

HIW opened at $26.18 on Thursday. Highwoods Properties has a 52 week low of $17.06 and a 52 week high of $26.27. The company has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.83 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $23.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.64%. Highwoods Properties’s payout ratio is 143.89%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Highwoods Properties

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 0.4% in the second quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 17,500,375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $418,425,000 after acquiring an additional 70,232 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,371,014 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $358,017,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139,688 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,747,900 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $304,802,000 after purchasing an additional 229,179 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Highwoods Properties by 7.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,974,055 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $161,728,000 after purchasing an additional 476,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 42.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,614,624 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $105,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,364,176 shares during the period. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.