NFJ Investment Group LLC Buys New Holdings in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 113,514 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $3,346,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC owned 0.07% of Cousins Properties at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CUZ. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised 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 worth $73,357,000 after purchasing an additional 82,521 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Cousins Properties by 3,768.0% during the third 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 purchasing an additional 2,276,986 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Cousins Properties by 4.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,214,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $51,266,000 after purchasing an additional 98,222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,205,415 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $65,016,000 after purchasing an additional 302,309 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.38% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Jeffrey D. Symes sold 5,997 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.13, for a total transaction of $168,695.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $352,440.77. The trade was a 32.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Cousins Properties Trading Down 1.4 %

CUZ opened at $30.87 on Wednesday. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 1-year low of $21.58 and a 1-year high of $32.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.70 billion, a PE 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $30.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.33.

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

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CUZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays upped 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Cousins Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cousins Properties currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.57.

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.