Kennedy Capital Management LLC Makes New $9.58 Million Investment in Cousins Properties Incorporated $CUZ

Kennedy Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 371,528 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $9,578,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,890,208 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $332,310,000 after buying an additional 419,911 shares during the period. Resolution Capital Ltd increased its holdings in Cousins Properties by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Resolution Capital Ltd now owns 5,919,230 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $177,754,000 after purchasing an additional 33,097 shares during the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Cousins Properties by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,847,176 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $150,740,000 after purchasing an additional 179,036 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its holdings in Cousins Properties by 308.9% during the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 5,175,415 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $133,422,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Cousins Properties by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,448,764 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $88,924,000 after purchasing an additional 47,633 shares during the last quarter. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CUZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Cousins Properties from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Capital One Financial set a $27.00 target price on Cousins Properties in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings lowered Cousins Properties from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Cousins Properties in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cousins Properties has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.73.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

Shares of CUZ opened at $28.98 on Monday. Cousins Properties Incorporated has a 52 week low of $21.03 and a 52 week high of $30.80. The firm has a market cap of $4.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -965.51, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $25.67 and a 200-day moving average of $24.97.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.21). Cousins Properties had a negative net margin of 0.52% and a negative return on equity of 0.11%. The company had revenue of $263.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $256.77 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Cousins Properties has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-2.980 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.93 EPS for the current year.

Cousins Properties declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the real estate investment trust to reacquire up to 6.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 7th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 7th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. Cousins Properties’s payout ratio is currently -4,266.67%.

About Cousins Properties

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE: CUZ) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in the development, acquisition and management of high-quality office and mixed-use properties. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company focuses on urban infill and suburban markets across the Sun Belt, with a strong presence in metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Nashville, Orlando and Tampa. Its core activities encompass full-service property leasing, asset management and construction oversight, serving a diverse mix of corporate and institutional tenants.

Founded in 1958 as a privately held real estate concern, Cousins Properties completed its initial public offering in 1992.