DGS Capital Management LLC Invests $208,000 in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,204 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position 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 buying an additional 1,536,067 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 40.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,130,452 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $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 raised its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 472.5% during the third 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 purchasing an additional 730,859 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Highwoods Properties by 537.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 485,368 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,264,000 after purchasing an additional 409,258 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 109.5% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 552,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,501,000 after purchasing an additional 288,500 shares in the last quarter. 96.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

HIW opened at $31.07 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of 23.19 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.68. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.37 and a fifty-two week high of $36.78.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.74). The company had revenue of $204.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.96 million. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 17.40% and a return on equity of 6.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Highwoods Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 149.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.20.

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.