Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Shares Sold by Advisory Resource Group

Advisory Resource Group lessened its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,079 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 443 shares during the quarter. Advisory Resource Group’s holdings in Cousins Properties were worth $278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Cousins Properties by 21.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,749,662 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $51,580,000 after buying an additional 309,571 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 368.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 781,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $23,052,000 after acquiring an additional 615,118 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Cousins Properties by 15.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,205,415 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $65,016,000 after purchasing an additional 302,309 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Cousins Properties by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,864,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $84,457,000 after purchasing an additional 36,727 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,606,870 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $224,251,000 after buying an additional 48,668 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.38% of the company’s stock.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

NYSE:CUZ opened at $31.22 on Friday. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 1-year low of $21.58 and a 1-year high of $32.55. The stock has a market cap of $4.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.07, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $30.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.64.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.62. Cousins Properties had a net margin of 5.36% and a return on equity of 1.03%. On average, research analysts expect that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 426.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CUZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reduced their target price on Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho raised shares of Cousins Properties from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.11.

About Cousins Properties

Cousins Properties Incorporated ("Cousins") is a fully integrated, self-administered, and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company, based in Atlanta and acting through its operating partnership, Cousins Properties LP, primarily invests in Class A office buildings located in high-growth Sun Belt markets.