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

Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 22nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th.

Highwoods Properties has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.4% annually over the last three years. Highwoods Properties has a dividend payout ratio of 333.3% 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 $3.54 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 56.5%.

Highwoods Properties Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:HIW traded up $0.01 on Tuesday, hitting $35.59. 1,334,901 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 982,238. Highwoods Properties has a 1-year low of $17.06 and a 1-year high of $36.55. The company has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a PE ratio of 29.05 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $32.74 and its 200 day moving average is $28.83.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.31). The company had revenue of $204.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $205.06 million. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 18.30% and a return on equity of 6.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Highwoods Properties will post 3.6 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on HIW. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Truist Financial raised their price target on Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Highwoods Properties from $22.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Highwoods Properties has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.50.

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.