BankPlus Trust Department Makes New Investment in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,628 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $142,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CUZ. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Cousins Properties during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $722,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 39,020 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,196,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400 shares during the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Cousins Properties during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,645,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 389,150 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,924,000 after acquiring an additional 9,783 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 33,525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,016,000 after acquiring an additional 1,865 shares during the last quarter. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Cousins Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $33.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp upgraded Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho upgraded Cousins Properties from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Cousins Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.00.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

CUZ stock opened at $30.17 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.97. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a twelve month low of $21.58 and a twelve month high of $32.55. The firm has a market cap of $5.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 100.55, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share 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%. Analysts predict that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.24%. 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.