Cousins Properties Incorporated to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.32 (NYSE:CUZ)

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, June 18th, NASDAQ reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.32 per share by the real estate investment trust on Monday, July 15th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.59%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd.

Cousins Properties has decreased its dividend by an average of 4.9% per year over the last three years. Cousins Properties has a dividend payout ratio of 272.3% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Cousins Properties to earn $2.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.8%.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

Shares of CUZ stock opened at $22.90 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a PE ratio of 46.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Cousins Properties has a twelve month low of $17.40 and a twelve month high of $25.19.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.54). The company had revenue of $209.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.35 million. Cousins Properties had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 1.62%. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cousins Properties will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cousins Properties currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Gregg D. Adzema sold 71,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.31, for a total transaction of $1,657,271.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 85,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,001,676.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Cousins Properties Company Profile

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.