Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Acquires 1,779 Shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated $CUZ

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) by 1.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 185,532 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,779 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Cousins Properties worth $5,572,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CUZ. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Cousins Properties in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cousins Properties in the 1st quarter worth $36,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 74.8% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,341 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 579.7% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 2,712 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 2,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GF Fund Management CO. LTD. increased its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 3,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CUZ. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cousins Properties in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cousins Properties has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Jeffrey D. Symes sold 4,612 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.30, for a total transaction of $135,131.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 13,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $396,077.40. This trade represents a 25.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

CUZ opened at $25.40 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.64, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $28.13 and a 200 day moving average of $28.23. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $24.07 and a fifty-two week high of $32.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a current ratio of 2.45.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.70. The company had revenue of $237.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $243.73 million. Cousins Properties had a net margin of 6.51% and a return on equity of 1.27%. Cousins Properties’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 3rd. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 345.95%.

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.