Jennison Associates LLC Increases Position in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 75.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,917,908 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 825,547 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Cousins Properties were worth $46,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Cousins Properties during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in Cousins Properties during the fourth quarter valued at about $156,000. Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cousins Properties during the first quarter valued at about $184,000. Spirit of America Management Corp NY boosted its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 750.0% during the fourth quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 8,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 7,500 shares during the period. Finally, Bailard Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cousins Properties during the fourth quarter worth about $224,000. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CUZ shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cousins Properties

In other news, CFO Gregg D. Adzema sold 71,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.31, for a total transaction 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 $2,001,676.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Cousins Properties Trading Up 1.0 %

CUZ stock traded up $0.24 during trading on Monday, reaching $22.64. The company had a trading volume of 599,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,415,498. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 52 week low of $17.40 and a 52 week high of $25.19. The company has a market cap of $3.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.19, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50 day moving average of $23.13 and a 200 day moving average of $23.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $209.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $199.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. Cousins Properties’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 3rd. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio is 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.