Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $33.11.

CUZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays increased their price objective on Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho upgraded Cousins Properties from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp upgraded Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

Shares of CUZ stock opened at $29.59 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.67, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.29. Cousins Properties has a fifty-two week low of $21.58 and a fifty-two week high of $32.55. 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 50 day moving average price of $30.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.65.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Cousins Properties will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 387.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cousins Properties

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 27.9% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 14,293 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Cousins Properties by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 452,191 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,468,000 after purchasing an additional 2,972 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Cousins Properties by 98.1% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 65,310 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 32,336 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in Cousins Properties by 2.1% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 42,573 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $986,000 after buying an additional 862 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Cousins Properties by 46.4% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 6,086 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $140,000 after buying an additional 1,928 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.38% of the company’s stock.

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.