Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Shares Sold by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 43,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Cousins Properties were worth $995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of CUZ. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Cousins Properties by 2.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,353,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $561,412,000 after buying an additional 456,251 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cousins Properties by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,208,784 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $297,284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407,164 shares during the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cousins Properties by 8.9% in the first quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 4,898,757 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $112,377,000 after purchasing an additional 399,468 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Cousins Properties by 49.2% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,781,184 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $67,722,000 after purchasing an additional 916,508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 5.4% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 117,031 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.38% of the company’s stock.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CUZ opened at $28.13 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.89. The stock has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.41, a P/E/G ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $17.40 and a fifty-two week high of $28.41.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.61). Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.31% and a net margin of 7.25%. The company had revenue of $212.98 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.18 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.67 EPS for the current year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 3rd. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 261.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CUZ. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Cousins Properties in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays raised their price target on Cousins Properties from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cousins Properties presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.86.

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.