Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays upped their target price on Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Cousins Properties from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cousins Properties presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.50.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

CUZ opened at $30.82 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business’s 50 day moving average is $29.63 and its 200-day moving average is $26.15. The stock has a market cap of $4.69 billion, a PE ratio of 93.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 1.29. Cousins Properties has a twelve month low of $17.85 and a twelve month high of $32.17.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.60). Cousins Properties had a net margin of 6.17% and a return on equity of 1.14%. The business had revenue of $209.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.54 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Cousins Properties will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd were given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.15%. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 387.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cousins Properties

In other news, CAO Jeffrey D. Symes sold 5,997 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.13, for a total transaction of $168,695.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $352,440.77. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CUZ. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Cousins Properties by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 88,588 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,128,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 2.2% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,534 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $545,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 30.8% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,765 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 651 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its position in Cousins Properties by 5.1% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 15,952 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $369,000 after buying an additional 769 shares during the period. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its stake in Cousins Properties by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 133,620 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,093,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. 94.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.