Martingale Asset Management L P Raises Position in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Martingale Asset Management L P grew its stake in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ - Free Report) by 14.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 133,757 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 16,779 shares during the quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P owned about 0.08% of Cousins Properties worth $4,098,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CUZ. Greenland Capital Management LP bought a new position in Cousins Properties in the fourth quarter worth about $308,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 823.4% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 84,031 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,575,000 after acquiring an additional 74,931 shares during the period. FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 24.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 624,016 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $19,120,000 after purchasing an additional 11,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in Cousins Properties by 155.1% in the fourth quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 125,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,830,000 after purchasing an additional 76,000 shares during the period. 94.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CUZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Cousins Properties from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. 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 note on Monday, February 24th. KeyCorp raised Cousins Properties from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $34.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cousins Properties has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $32.70.

Cousins Properties Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Cousins Properties stock traded up $0.25 on Tuesday, reaching $26.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 203,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,255,094. The company has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 52 week low of $21.58 and a 52 week high of $32.55. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $29.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.01.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 1.00% and a net margin of 5.36%. Equities analysts anticipate that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cousins Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.