Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 35,963 Shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas cut its stake in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 44.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,522 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 35,963 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Cousins Properties were worth $1,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CUZ. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Cousins Properties by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,491,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $413,375,000 after buying an additional 1,350,352 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,606,870 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $224,251,000 after acquiring an additional 48,668 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,864,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $84,457,000 after acquiring an additional 36,727 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,677,769 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $82,047,000 after purchasing an additional 189,411 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 21.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,749,662 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $51,580,000 after purchasing an additional 309,571 shares in the last quarter. 94.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CUZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group began 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. BMO Capital Markets cut 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 research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Mizuho raised Cousins Properties from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.89.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

Shares of CUZ opened at $29.51 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.28. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a twelve month low of $21.58 and a twelve month high of $32.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.95 and a 200 day moving average of $30.23.

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

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. 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.