Retirement Systems of Alabama Grows Holdings in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 204,062 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 856 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.12% of Cousins Properties worth $6,020,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in Cousins Properties by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 33,525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,016,000 after buying an additional 1,865 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in Cousins Properties by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 389,150 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,924,000 after buying an additional 9,783 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Cousins Properties by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 39,020 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,196,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Cousins Properties in the fourth quarter worth $722,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in Cousins Properties in the fourth quarter worth $142,000. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CUZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised Cousins Properties from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen raised Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.20.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CUZ opened at $30.24 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $28.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.16. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 52 week low of $22.16 and a 52 week high of $32.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a PE ratio of 91.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.32.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.03. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.15% and a net margin of 5.97%. The company had revenue of $6.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.49 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Investors of record on Monday, July 7th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 7th. Cousins Properties’s payout ratio is 387.88%.

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.