Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

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

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

Cousins Properties Price Performance

Shares of CUZ stock opened at $31.58 on Monday. Cousins Properties has a twelve month low of $17.85 and a twelve month high of $32.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.28. The company has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.05%. Cousins Properties’s payout ratio is 387.88%.

Insider Transactions at Cousins Properties

In related news, CAO Jeffrey D. Symes sold 5,997 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $352,440.77. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cousins Properties

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CUZ. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Cousins Properties by 75.6% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,917,908 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $46,107,000 after acquiring an additional 825,547 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 368.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 781,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $23,052,000 after purchasing an additional 615,118 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Cousins Properties in the first quarter worth $14,306,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Cousins Properties by 3.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,140,948 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $357,910,000 after buying an additional 458,387 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Cousins Properties by 2.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,353,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $561,412,000 after buying an additional 456,251 shares during the period. 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.