Comerica Bank Increases Position in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Comerica Bank increased its stake in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 74,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,712 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Cousins Properties were worth $1,803,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Cousins Properties by 6.2% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 61,779 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,258,000 after buying an additional 3,626 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Cousins Properties by 13.4% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 328,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,698,000 after buying an additional 38,937 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Cousins Properties by 1.7% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 187,330 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,816,000 after buying an additional 3,100 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in Cousins Properties by 306.4% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 382,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,797,000 after buying an additional 288,563 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Cousins Properties by 9.7% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 29,671 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $604,000 after buying an additional 2,623 shares during the period. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cousins Properties

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CUZ. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.67.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

Shares of Cousins Properties stock traded up $0.06 on Friday, hitting $22.91. 614,266 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,216,799. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.84. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 1 year low of $17.40 and a 1 year high of $25.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a PE ratio of 46.76, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.27.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.54). Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.62% and a net margin of 9.15%. The firm had revenue of $209.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.35 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. Cousins Properties’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.59%. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 261.22%.

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.