Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Takes $1.75 Million Position in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 71,979 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,753,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 53,547 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,091,000 after purchasing an additional 4,884 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments boosted its holdings in Cousins Properties by 2.6% during the third quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 2,046,403 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,685,000 after buying an additional 50,956 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in Cousins Properties during the third quarter worth about $1,538,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Cousins Properties by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 84,730 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,063,000 after buying an additional 3,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 31.0% during the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 235,515 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,797,000 after acquiring an additional 55,783 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CUZ shares. Barclays lowered their price target on Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. StockNews.com lowered Cousins Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on Cousins Properties from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cousins Properties news, CFO Gregg D. Adzema sold 71,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.31, for a total value of $1,657,271.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,001,676.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

NYSE CUZ opened at $23.74 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.27. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $17.40 and a fifty-two week high of $25.19. The business has a fifty day moving average of $23.09 and a 200-day moving average of $22.42.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.54). Cousins Properties had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 1.62%. The firm had revenue of $209.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.39%. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 261.22%.

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.