Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Short Interest Up 6.4% in October

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,510,000 shares, an increase of 6.4% from the September 30th total of 3,300,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Activity at Cousins Properties

In related news, CAO Jeffrey D. Symes sold 5,997 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cousins Properties

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its stake in Cousins Properties by 2.2% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 37,244 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $895,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in Cousins Properties by 0.6% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 88,588 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,128,000 after acquiring an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 190,589 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,582,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 118,424 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,393 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 124.6% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 246,382 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,923,000 after purchasing an additional 136,685 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CUZ shares. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Cousins Properties from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays increased their target price 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cousins Properties has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.67.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

NYSE CUZ traded down $0.65 on Friday, reaching $29.98. 1,460,594 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,300,004. Cousins Properties has a 12 month low of $17.85 and a 12 month high of $32.17. The company has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.24, a P/E/G ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.97. 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) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.60). The business had revenue of $209.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.54 million. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.14% and a net margin of 6.17%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Cousins Properties will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 3rd. Cousins Properties’s payout ratio is 387.88%.

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.