Alliancebernstein L.P. Purchases 11,418 Shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ - Free Report) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 231,236 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 11,418 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.15% of Cousins Properties worth $7,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CUZ. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in 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 buying an additional 869 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 473.5% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,301 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 3,551 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in shares of Cousins Properties in the fourth quarter valued at $142,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Cousins Properties by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,995 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $184,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Cousins Properties in a research note on Monday, March 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Cousins Properties from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cousins Properties currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $32.70.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

Shares of CUZ stock traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $26.83. 168,604 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,252,290. The stock's 50-day moving average is $28.89 and its 200-day moving average is $29.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 52 week low of $21.72 and a 52 week high of $32.55. The stock has a market cap of $4.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.24.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 EPS for the current year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.77%. Cousins Properties's payout ratio is 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.