Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Shares Purchased by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ - Free Report) by 19.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 99,107 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 15,869 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned about 0.06% of Cousins Properties worth $3,037,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Cousins Properties by 1,609.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 923 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 869 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in 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. FIL Ltd grew its stake 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 worth $100,000 after buying an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in Cousins Properties by 473.5% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,301 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 3,551 shares during the period. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in Cousins Properties in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $142,000. 94.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Cousins Properties in a research report on Monday, March 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $32.70.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

Shares of CUZ stock traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $28.03. 522,776 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,382,867. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The company's 50 day moving average is $28.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.83. The company has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.33, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ - Get Free Report) last released its 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 company had revenue of $6.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.49 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. Cousins Properties's quarterly revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 4.57%. Cousins Properties's 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.