Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Buys New Stake in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new stake in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 138,171 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $3,364,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board owned approximately 0.09% of Cousins Properties as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Cousins Properties by 3.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,680,320 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $461,998,000 after buying an additional 670,381 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,208,784 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $297,284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407,164 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 2.7% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,667,512 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,337,000 after purchasing an additional 71,124 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,289,723 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $55,755,000 after purchasing an additional 117,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PGGM Investments lifted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 2.6% during the third quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 2,046,403 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,685,000 after purchasing an additional 50,956 shares during the last quarter. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cousins Properties Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of CUZ stock traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $23.18. 138,589 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,511,786. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 1 year low of $17.40 and a 1 year high of $25.19. The stock has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a PE ratio of 48.12, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $23.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.81.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.54). Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.62% and a net margin of 9.15%. The business had revenue of $209.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 261.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Gregg D. Adzema sold 71,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now 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 hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.