First Trust Advisors LP Reduces Holdings in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

First Trust Advisors LP decreased its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ - Free Report) by 32.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 150,259 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 72,295 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.09% of Cousins Properties worth $4,604,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in Cousins Properties by 0.8% during the 4th 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 period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 67.4% in the fourth 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. grew its holdings in Cousins Properties by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 22,667 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $695,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the period. FIL Ltd raised its position in Cousins Properties by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,262 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 643 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Cousins Properties by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,995 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $184,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares during the period. 94.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho raised shares of Cousins Properties from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $22.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays decreased their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Cousins Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Cousins Properties from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $32.70.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

CUZ traded down $0.44 on Monday, hitting $27.79. 1,321,448 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,251,378. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $28.20 and a 200-day moving average of $29.79. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 12-month low of $22.01 and a 12-month high of $32.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a PE ratio of 92.64, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The business 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 was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.61%. Cousins Properties's payout ratio is 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.