Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Shares Sold by Two Sigma Advisers LP

Two Sigma Advisers LP cut its position in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ - Free Report) by 46.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 245,079 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 210,500 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP owned approximately 0.15% of Cousins Properties worth $7,509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 466,850 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $14,304,000 after acquiring an additional 21,939 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Cousins Properties by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,677,769 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $82,047,000 after purchasing an additional 189,411 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Cousins Properties by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,027 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 36,162 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,108,000 after buying an additional 7,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in Cousins Properties by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 250,886 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $7,609,000 after acquiring an additional 30,600 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.38% of the company's stock.

Cousins Properties Trading Up 3.2%

NYSE CUZ traded up $0.86 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $27.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,199,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,281,541. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 52-week low of $22.01 and a 52-week high of $32.55. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $27.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.41.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.49 million. Cousins Properties had a net margin of 5.36% and a return on equity of 1.00%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Cousins Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 387.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on CUZ. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Cousins Properties in a research report on Monday, March 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Cousins Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $32.20.

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.