Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Receives $32.89 Average PT from Analysts

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $32.89.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CUZ. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Cousins Properties in a report on Monday, March 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. KeyCorp raised Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. 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, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th.

Institutional Trading of Cousins Properties

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,802,104 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $759,936,000 after purchasing an additional 985,934 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,491,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $413,375,000 after acquiring an additional 1,350,352 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 7,853,306 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $240,625,000 after acquiring an additional 19,657 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 0.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 48,668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Cousins Properties by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,600,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $171,612,000 after purchasing an additional 585,659 shares in the last quarter. 94.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cousins Properties Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of CUZ stock opened at $29.40 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.89 and a 200 day moving average of $30.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Cousins Properties has a 1-year low of $21.58 and a 1-year high of $32.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a PE ratio of 98.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.28.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.62. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.00% and a net margin of 5.36%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cousins Properties will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 426.67%.

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.