Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Increases Stock Holdings in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 23.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,875,490 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 538,074 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 1.82% of Cousins Properties worth $88,105,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CUZ. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 1,609.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 923 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 869 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Cousins Properties by 67.4% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 981 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Cousins Properties by 74.5% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,976 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,697 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 473.5% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,301 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 3,551 shares during the period. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department bought a new position in shares of Cousins Properties during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $142,000. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

Shares of CUZ stock opened at $26.01 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.70, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.28. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 52-week low of $21.58 and a 52-week high of $32.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company’s 50 day moving average is $29.72 and its 200 day moving average is $30.20.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.62. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.00% and a net margin of 5.36%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cousins Properties’s payout ratio is 426.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CUZ. KeyCorp raised Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho raised shares of Cousins Properties from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cousins Properties presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.89.

Cousins Properties Company 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.