Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires 4,200 Shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 46,400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 4,200 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Cousins Properties were worth $1,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position 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 valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 49.7% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,319 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 2.2% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 30.8% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,765 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Cousins Properties by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 56,824 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,741,000 after purchasing an additional 829 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CUZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp raised shares of Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Cousins Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $31.00 to $32.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Cousins Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.11.

Cousins Properties Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of Cousins Properties stock opened at $29.93 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 1 year low of $21.58 and a 1 year high of $32.55. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $30.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.83. The stock has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.75, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.29.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.62. Cousins Properties had a net margin of 5.36% and a return on equity of 1.03%. As a group, research analysts expect that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.28%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 426.67%.

Cousins Properties Company Profile

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.