CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Buys 9,102 Shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its stake in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 3.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 270,983 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,102 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in Cousins Properties were worth $6,514,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its stake in Cousins Properties by 21.7% in the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 168,170 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,043,000 after purchasing an additional 29,999 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 2.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,353,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $561,412,000 after acquiring an additional 456,251 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 5.1% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 15,952 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $369,000 after acquiring an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Cousins Properties during the first quarter valued at about $846,000. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 8.9% during the first quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 4,898,757 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $112,377,000 after acquiring an additional 399,468 shares during the last quarter. 94.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Gregg D. Adzema sold 71,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 85,872 shares in the company, valued at $2,001,676.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CUZ opened at $27.25 on Friday. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 1 year low of $17.40 and a 1 year high of $27.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company’s 50-day moving average is $23.40 and its 200 day moving average is $23.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 1.30.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.54). The business had revenue of $209.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.35 million. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.30% and a net margin of 7.25%. Cousins Properties’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.70%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 3rd. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.