QRG Capital Management Inc. Grows Position in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,897 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 853 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cousins Properties were worth $610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,749,662 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $51,580,000 after acquiring an additional 309,571 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $23,052,000 after purchasing an additional 615,118 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 15.9% in 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 shares of Cousins Properties by 1.3% in 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 last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,606,870 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $224,251,000 after purchasing an additional 48,668 shares during the period. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cousins Properties Trading Down 2.6 %

CUZ stock opened at $29.30 on Wednesday. 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 52-week low of $21.58 and a 52-week high of $32.55. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.08. The firm has a market cap of $4.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.66, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last issued its quarterly 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. Cousins Properties’s payout ratio is presently 426.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CUZ. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. KeyCorp raised shares of Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Cousins Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $33.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho upgraded Cousins Properties from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on 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 given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.00.

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.