Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC Lowers Holdings in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ - Free Report) by 52.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 307,953 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 333,929 shares during the quarter. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC owned about 0.18% of Cousins Properties worth $9,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Cousins Properties by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 44,154 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,353,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Cousins Properties by 67.4% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Cousins Properties by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 22,667 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $695,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Norinchukin Bank The grew its holdings in Cousins Properties by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 7,393 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $227,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd increased 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 valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CUZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Wolfe Research raised Cousins Properties from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Mizuho raised Cousins Properties from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com lowered Cousins Properties from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $32.70.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CUZ traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $27.42. 992,272 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,258,182. The company has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.40, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.24. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 12-month low of $22.01 and a 12-month high of $32.55. The business's fifty day moving average price is $28.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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, beating 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 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.67%. Cousins Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 426.67%.

Cousins Properties 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.