NFJ Investment Group LLC Takes Position in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 113,514 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $3,346,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CUZ. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 130.8% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,514 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 858 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Cousins Properties by 49.7% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,319 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Cousins Properties by 30.8% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,765 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 651 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Cousins Properties in the 2nd quarter valued at about $115,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 74.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 1,836 shares in the last quarter. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CUZ. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Cousins Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.57.

Insider Transactions at Cousins Properties

In related news, CAO Jeffrey D. Symes sold 5,997 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.13, for a total value of $168,695.61. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $352,440.77. This represents a 32.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

Shares of CUZ opened at $30.87 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.53, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.33. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 1-year low of $21.58 and a 1-year high of $32.55.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.60). Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.14% and a net margin of 6.17%. The firm had revenue of $209.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.54 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd were given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.15%. Cousins Properties’s payout ratio is 387.88%.

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.