Gotham Asset Management LLC Raises Stake in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ - Free Report) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 257,783 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 19,512 shares during the quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.16% of Cousins Properties worth $7,898,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CUZ. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 1,609.3% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 923 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 869 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the period. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in Cousins Properties by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,262 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 643 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in Cousins Properties by 473.5% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,301 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 3,551 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its stake in Cousins Properties by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,351 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $133,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CUZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price target on Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Cousins Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. 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 report on Monday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Cousins Properties in a report on Monday, March 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cousins Properties presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $32.70.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

CUZ stock traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $28.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,873,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,252,217. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $27.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 1 year low of $22.01 and a 1 year high of $32.55. The stock has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.58, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.34.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $6.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $238.49 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.76 EPS for the current 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.46%. Cousins Properties's dividend payout ratio is presently 387.88%.

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.