8,272 Shares in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Bought by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CUZ. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 3,768.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,337,416 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $68,907,000 after acquiring an additional 2,276,986 shares in the last quarter. Rush Island Management LP acquired a new position in Cousins Properties in the 3rd quarter worth $46,393,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 895,917 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Cousins Properties in the third quarter valued at about $20,276,000. 94.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CUZ shares. KeyCorp upgraded Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Mizuho upgraded 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 note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cousins Properties currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.00.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

Shares of CUZ stock opened at $29.80 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $30.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.09. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a one year low of $21.58 and a one year high of $32.55. The stock has a market cap of $5.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 99.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

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, 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 1.00%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.30%. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.