American Assets Trust (AAT) Competitors

American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT) and Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, community ranking, media sentiment, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, dividends and earnings.

Is AAT or CUZ a better dividend stock?

American Assets Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Cousins Properties pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. American Assets Trust pays out 147.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Cousins Properties pays out 387.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Assets Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more volatility & risk, AAT or CUZ?

American Assets Trust has a beta of 1.29, suggesting that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cousins Properties has a beta of 1.29, suggesting that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AAT or CUZ more profitable?

American Assets Trust has a net margin of 12.76% compared to Cousins Properties' net margin of 6.17%. American Assets Trust's return on equity of 5.08% beat Cousins Properties' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Assets Trust	12.76%	5.08%	1.89%
Cousins Properties	6.17%	1.14%	0.66%

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, AAT or CUZ?

Cousins Properties has higher revenue and earnings than American Assets Trust. American Assets Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cousins Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Assets Trust	$441.16M	3.92	$64.69M	$0.91	31.20
Cousins Properties	$828.41M	5.75	$82.96M	$0.33	94.94

Do analysts rate AAT or CUZ?

American Assets Trust presently has a consensus target price of $25.00, suggesting a potential downside of 11.94%. Cousins Properties has a consensus target price of $31.50, suggesting a potential upside of 0.54%. Given Cousins Properties' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Cousins Properties is more favorable than American Assets Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Assets Trust	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Cousins Properties	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Does the media prefer AAT or CUZ?

In the previous week, Cousins Properties had 5 more articles in the media than American Assets Trust. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Cousins Properties and 3 mentions for American Assets Trust. Cousins Properties' average media sentiment score of 1.17 beat American Assets Trust's score of 1.06 indicating that Cousins Properties is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
American Assets Trust	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cousins Properties	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders believe in AAT or CUZ?

90.4% of American Assets Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.4% of Cousins Properties shares are owned by institutional investors. 37.3% of American Assets Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Cousins Properties shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer AAT or CUZ?

American Assets Trust received 95 more outperform votes than Cousins Properties when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.37% of users gave American Assets Trust an outperform vote while only 56.67% of users gave Cousins Properties an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
American Assets Trust	Outperform Votes 371 66.37%	Underperform Votes 188 33.63%
Cousins Properties	Outperform Votes 276 56.67%	Underperform Votes 211 43.33%

Summary

Cousins Properties beats American Assets Trust on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.