Renaissance Technologies LLC Acquires 74,931 Shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ - Free Report) by 823.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 84,031 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 74,931 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.05% of Cousins Properties worth $2,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Cousins Properties by 1,609.3% in 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 period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position 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 valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in Cousins Properties by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,262 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $100,000 after acquiring an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Cousins Properties by 473.5% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,301 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 3,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in Cousins Properties in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $142,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. 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. Barclays dropped their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Cousins Properties from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Cousins Properties from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $32.70.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

Shares of CUZ traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $27.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,421,493 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,246,283. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $28.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.89. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $22.01 and a fifty-two week high of $32.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.13, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.24.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.62. Cousins Properties had a net margin of 5.36% and a return on equity of 1.00%. On average, research analysts predict that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Cousins Properties's payout ratio is 426.67%.

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.