Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Position Cut by Guggenheim Capital LLC

Guggenheim Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ - Free Report) by 77.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,736 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 46,208 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC's holdings in Cousins Properties were worth $421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 44,154 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,353,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 67.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 981 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 22,667 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $695,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in Cousins Properties by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,262 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Cousins Properties by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,995 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $184,000 after buying an additional 794 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CUZ shares. Barclays lowered their target price on Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded Cousins Properties from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $32.70.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CUZ traded up $0.29 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $28.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 419,908 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,381,053. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.24. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 1-year low of $22.01 and a 1-year high of $32.55. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $28.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.83. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.03. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.00% and a net margin of 5.36%. The business had revenue of $6.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $238.49 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given 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 4.56%. Cousins Properties's dividend payout ratio is currently 426.67%.

Cousins Properties 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.