Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Declares $0.32 Quarterly Dividend

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 18th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.32 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd.

Cousins Properties has decreased its dividend by an average of 4.9% annually over the last three years. Cousins Properties has a payout ratio of 441.4% 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 analysts expect Cousins Properties to earn $2.72 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 47.1%.

Cousins Properties Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of CUZ traded up $0.45 on Thursday, hitting $29.83. 2,571,048 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,310,687. Cousins Properties has a 1 year low of $21.58 and a 1 year high of $32.55. The stock's 50 day moving average is $31.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.39, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.60). The business had revenue of $209.21 million for 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cousins Properties will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CUZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp upgraded Cousins Properties from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Cousins Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Three investment 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, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $33.14.

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.