Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 2,881 Shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ)

Retirement Systems of Alabama decreased its position in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 184,813 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,881 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Cousins Properties were worth $5,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CUZ. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Cousins Properties by 3,768.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,337,416 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $68,907,000 after purchasing an additional 2,276,986 shares in the last quarter. Rush Island Management LP purchased a new position in Cousins Properties in the third quarter worth $46,393,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 411.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,113,403 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,823,000 after purchasing an additional 895,917 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Cousins Properties during the 3rd quarter worth $20,276,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Cousins Properties by 368.7% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 781,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $23,052,000 after buying an additional 615,118 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Cousins Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Cousins Properties from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.14.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

Shares of CUZ opened at $29.38 on Thursday. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 52-week low of $21.58 and a 52-week high of $32.55. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.29.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.60). The firm had revenue of $209.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.54 million. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.14% and a net margin of 6.17%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.