Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Receives $33.11 Average Price Target from Analysts

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nine ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $33.11.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Mizuho raised shares of Cousins Properties from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Cousins Properties from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Cousins Properties from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Cousins Properties from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

Cousins Properties stock traded up $0.56 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $31.22. The stock had a trading volume of 1,625,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,172,273. Cousins Properties has a one year low of $21.58 and a one year high of $32.55. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.29. The firm's 50 day moving average is $30.35 and its 200 day moving average is $29.59.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.62. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.14% and a net margin of 6.17%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cousins Properties will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. Cousins Properties's dividend payout ratio is currently 387.88%.

Institutional Trading of Cousins Properties

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CUZ. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Cousins Properties by 3,768.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,337,416 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $68,907,000 after purchasing an additional 2,276,986 shares during the period. Rush Island Management LP bought a new position in shares of Cousins Properties during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,393,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,350,352 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 411.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,113,403 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $32,823,000 after acquiring an additional 895,917 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Cousins Properties during the 4th quarter valued at $25,148,000. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by 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.