Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its stake in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 72,176 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,296 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Cousins Properties were worth $2,211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Cousins Properties by 3.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,140,948 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $357,910,000 after buying an additional 458,387 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,606,870 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $224,251,000 after acquiring an additional 48,668 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,864,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $84,457,000 after acquiring an additional 36,727 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 3.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,488,358 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $73,357,000 after purchasing an additional 82,521 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 2,276,986 shares during the last quarter. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

CUZ opened at $30.51 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.45, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $30.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.15. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 12-month low of $21.58 and a 12-month high of $32.55.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.60). The business had revenue of $209.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.54 million. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.14% and a net margin of 6.17%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 387.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CUZ shares. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Cousins Properties from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho upgraded Cousins Properties from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Cousins Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Cousins Properties from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.22.

Cousins Properties Company 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.