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

Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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 dividend payout ratio of 350.9% meaning 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 Price Performance

Shares of HIW opened at $28.54 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a PE ratio of 21.30 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.31. Highwoods Properties has a 1-year low of $21.46 and a 1-year high of $36.78.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HIW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of 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 lowered their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Highwoods Properties from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Highwoods Properties currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.86.

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.