Analysts Set Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Price Target at $31.71

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $33.14.

CUZ has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp upgraded Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Cousins Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cousins Properties

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cousins Properties by 3.9% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 458,387 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,606,870 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $224,251,000 after buying an additional 48,668 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,864,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $84,457,000 after buying an additional 36,727 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 3.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,488,358 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $73,357,000 after buying an additional 82,521 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 3,768.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,276,986 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.38% of the company’s stock.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

NYSE:CUZ opened at $30.24 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $31.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.64, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.29. Cousins Properties has a 12-month low of $21.58 and a 12-month 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.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 6.17% and a return on equity of 1.14%. The company had revenue of $209.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.54 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Cousins Properties will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 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.