Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Shares Sold by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 13.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,518,341 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 231,321 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.96% of Cousins Properties worth $46,522,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 869 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised 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 worth $30,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 74.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,976 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 1,697 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in shares of Cousins Properties in the fourth quarter valued at about $142,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,995 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $184,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares during the period. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on CUZ. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays cut their price objective on 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 decreased their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Cousins Properties in a report on Monday, March 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cousins Properties has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.89.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CUZ opened at $26.01 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $29.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.21. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 52 week low of $21.58 and a 52 week high of $32.55. The stock has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.70, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.24.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.62. Cousins Properties had a net margin of 5.36% and a return on equity of 1.00%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.92%. Cousins Properties’s dividend 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.