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

Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th.

Highwoods Properties has raised its dividend by an average of 1.4% per year over the last three years. Highwoods Properties has a dividend 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. Research 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 Stock Performance

Shares of HIW stock traded up $0.14 on Thursday, hitting $23.96. The company had a trading volume of 763,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,289,742. The firm has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.13 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $24.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.07. 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 has a twelve month low of $17.06 and a twelve month high of $26.27.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HIW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Highwoods Properties in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.38.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Highwoods Properties

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 28,020 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,282,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 6,573 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 76.6% during the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 73.0% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,275 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp increased its stake in Highwoods Properties by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 52,803 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,415,000 after buying an additional 621 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

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.