Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 1,407,164 Shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ - Free Report) by 13.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,208,784 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 1,407,164 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 8.04% of Cousins Properties worth $297,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CUZ. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Cousins Properties by 3.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,680,320 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $461,998,000 after buying an additional 670,381 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,667,512 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $54,337,000 after acquiring an additional 71,124 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Cousins Properties by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,289,723 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $55,755,000 after acquiring an additional 117,031 shares during the last quarter. Aew Capital Management L P grew its position in Cousins Properties by 34.6% during the 3rd quarter. Aew Capital Management L P now owns 2,190,650 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $44,624,000 after acquiring an additional 563,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PGGM Investments increased its holdings in Cousins Properties by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 2,046,403 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $41,685,000 after purchasing an additional 50,956 shares in the last quarter. 94.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on CUZ shares. StockNews.com lowered Cousins Properties from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cousins Properties has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $23.67.

Cousins Properties Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of CUZ traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $23.62. 733,966 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,339,234. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.54. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 52 week low of $17.40 and a 52 week high of $25.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a PE ratio of 48.20, a PEG ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.54). Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.62% and a net margin of 9.15%. The firm had revenue of $209.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $199.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.42%. Cousins Properties's payout ratio is 261.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cousins Properties

In other news, CFO Gregg D. Adzema sold 71,097 shares of Cousins Properties stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.31, for a total value of $1,657,271.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,001,676.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

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.