Legato Capital Management LLC Has $768,000 Position in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Legato Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 11.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,075 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,644 shares during the quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cousins Properties were worth $768,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Cousins Properties by 67.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 981 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 49.7% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,319 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 30.8% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,765 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 651 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 74.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,976 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Cousins Properties by 168.0% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,057 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 2,543 shares in the last quarter. 94.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CUZ shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Cousins Properties from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp raised Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Cousins Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cousins Properties currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.11.

Cousins Properties Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of CUZ stock opened at $30.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.29. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 1 year low of $21.58 and a 1 year high of $32.55. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.73 EPS for the current year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 426.67%.

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.