Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Trims Position in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. trimmed its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 72,176 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,296 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Cousins Properties were worth $2,211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CUZ. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Cousins Properties by 49.7% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,319 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 651 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Cousins Properties in the second quarter worth about $115,000. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 74.5% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,976 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 1,697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Cousins Properties by 168.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,057 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 2,543 shares during the period. 94.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cousins Properties Stock Down 2.1 %

CUZ opened at $30.51 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a PE ratio of 92.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.29. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a twelve month low of $21.58 and a twelve month high of $32.55. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $30.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.60). The firm had revenue of $209.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.54 million. Cousins Properties had a net margin of 6.17% and a return on equity of 1.14%. Cousins Properties’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 387.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CUZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho upgraded Cousins Properties from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. KeyCorp raised 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 report on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cousins Properties presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.22.

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.