Boothbay Fund Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Boothbay Fund Management LLC raised its stake in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ - Free Report) by 3,246.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 394,021 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 382,246 shares during the period. Boothbay Fund Management LLC owned about 0.25% of Cousins Properties worth $12,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Cousins Properties by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 44,154 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,353,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 67.4% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 981 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 22,667 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $695,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Norinchukin Bank The lifted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 7,393 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $227,000 after buying an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,262 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CUZ. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Cousins Properties in a research report on Monday, March 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $32.70.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

NYSE CUZ traded up $0.42 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $27.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 484,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,380,154. The stock has a market cap of $4.69 billion, a PE ratio of 93.20, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.24. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $22.01 and a fifty-two week high of $32.55. The company's 50-day moving average is $28.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.62. Cousins Properties had a net margin of 5.36% and a return on equity of 1.00%. Analysts forecast that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.58%. 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.