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

Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.01%.

Highwoods Properties has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.7% per year over the last three years. Highwoods Properties has a payout ratio of 350.9% 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 $3.44 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 58.1%.

Highwoods Properties Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HIW traded down $0.73 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $28.54. The stock had a trading volume of 740,970 shares, compared to its average volume of 785,698. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $30.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.63. Highwoods Properties has a twelve month low of $21.46 and a twelve month high of $36.78. The firm has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a PE ratio of 21.30 and a beta of 1.24.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on HIW shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Highwoods Properties from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.86.

Highwoods Properties Company Profile

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.