Wells Fargo & Company Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) Stock Price

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) had its price objective cut by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $35.00 to $31.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target points to a potential upside of 3.02% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on HIW. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Highwoods Properties in a research report on Monday, March 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised Highwoods Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.83.

Highwoods Properties Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:HIW traded down $0.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $30.09. 54,268 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 912,708. The company has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.68 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Highwoods Properties has a one year low of $24.07 and a one year high of $36.78.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 4.33%. The company had revenue of $200.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $201.31 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Highwoods Properties will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Highwoods Properties

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 409,258 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 70,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,168,000 after acquiring an additional 3,362 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Highwoods Properties in the fourth quarter valued at about $822,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Highwoods Properties by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 16,025 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $490,000 after acquiring an additional 1,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in Highwoods Properties by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 13,202 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $404,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.