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

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 18th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.32 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd.

Cousins Properties has decreased its dividend by an average of 0.8% annually over the last three years. Cousins Properties has a dividend payout ratio of 241.5% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Cousins Properties to earn $2.84 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 45.1%.

Cousins Properties Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CUZ opened at $29.49 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a PE ratio of 98.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.28. Cousins Properties has a 52-week low of $21.58 and a 52-week high of $32.55. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $29.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.62. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.00% and a net margin of 5.36%. Equities research analysts forecast that Cousins Properties will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets cut Cousins Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays decreased their price target on Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Mizuho upgraded Cousins Properties from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.89.

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.