Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the nine ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $32.89.

CUZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Cousins Properties from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $32.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp raised Cousins Properties from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $34.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Cousins Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CUZ traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $29.51. 1,282,270 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,236,999. Cousins Properties has a twelve month low of $21.58 and a twelve month high of $32.55. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $29.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.37, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.28.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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, analysts forecast that Cousins Properties will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cousins Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 426.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Cousins Properties by 4.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 985,934 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,491,300 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $413,375,000 after purchasing an additional 1,350,352 shares during the period. APG Asset Management US Inc. increased its stake in Cousins Properties by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 7,853,306 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $240,625,000 after purchasing an additional 19,657 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 48,668 shares during the period. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Cousins Properties by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,600,905 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $171,612,000 after buying an additional 585,659 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.