Schroder Investment Management Group Sells 60,868 Shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Schroder Investment Management Group decreased its position in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,423,815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 60,868 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group owned approximately 0.90% of Cousins Properties worth $42,843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Cousins Properties in the 4th quarter worth $57,194,000. Rush Island Management LP bought a new position in shares of Cousins Properties in the third quarter worth about $46,393,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,491,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $413,375,000 after purchasing an additional 1,350,352 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,802,104 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $759,936,000 after purchasing an additional 985,934 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Cousins Properties by 411.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,113,403 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,823,000 after buying an additional 895,917 shares during the last quarter. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CUZ shares. StockNews.com raised Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. KeyCorp raised shares of Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Cousins Properties in a research report on Monday, March 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cousins Properties has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.89.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

NYSE:CUZ opened at $29.40 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a PE ratio of 98.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 12-month low of $21.58 and a 12-month high of $32.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $29.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.25.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.62. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.00% and a net margin of 5.36%. Research analysts anticipate that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 426.67%.

Cousins Properties Profile

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.