Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Receives $31.50 Average Price Target from Analysts

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $31.50.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CUZ shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

NYSE:CUZ opened at $31.72 on Thursday. Cousins Properties has a 12 month low of $19.48 and a 12 month high of $32.44. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $30.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.90. The firm has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a PE ratio of 96.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last announced its 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). Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.14% and a net margin of 6.17%. The company had revenue of $209.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.54 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. Cousins Properties’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cousins Properties will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.04%. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio is 387.88%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Jeffrey D. Symes sold 5,997 shares of Cousins Properties stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.13, for a total transaction of $168,695.61. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,529 shares in the company, valued at $352,440.77. The trade was a 32.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cousins Properties

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $561,412,000 after buying an additional 456,251 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Cousins Properties by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,140,948 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $357,910,000 after acquiring an additional 458,387 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Cousins Properties by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,606,870 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $224,251,000 after acquiring an additional 48,668 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,864,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $84,457,000 after acquiring an additional 36,727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 3.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,488,358 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $73,357,000 after purchasing an additional 82,521 shares during the last quarter. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.