Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Shares Sold by Oak Thistle LLC

Oak Thistle LLC cut its holdings in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ - Free Report) by 22.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 31,271 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 8,859 shares during the quarter. Oak Thistle LLC's holdings in Cousins Properties were worth $958,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Cousins Properties by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,140,948 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $357,910,000 after acquiring an additional 458,387 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,606,870 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $224,251,000 after purchasing an additional 48,668 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,864,177 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $84,457,000 after purchasing an additional 36,727 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Cousins Properties by 3.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,488,358 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $73,357,000 after buying an additional 82,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Cousins Properties by 3,768.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,337,416 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $68,907,000 after buying an additional 2,276,986 shares during the period. 94.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Cousins Properties from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. KeyCorp upgraded Cousins Properties from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $34.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Cousins Properties from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $33.22.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

CUZ stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $30.13. 747,813 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,152,764. The company has a market cap of $4.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.29. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 12-month low of $21.58 and a 12-month high of $32.55. The stock's 50 day moving average is $30.67 and its 200 day moving average is $28.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.60). The business had revenue of $209.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $212.54 million. Cousins Properties had a net margin of 6.17% and a return on equity of 1.14%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.25%. Cousins Properties's dividend payout ratio is currently 387.88%.

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.