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

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, September 17th, NASDAQ reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.32 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 3rd.

Cousins Properties has decreased its dividend by an average of 4.9% per year over the last three years. Cousins Properties has a payout ratio of 581.8% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Cousins Properties to earn $2.69 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 47.6%.

Cousins Properties Stock Up 0.6 %

CUZ stock traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $29.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,912,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,338,077. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $26.99 and its 200-day moving average is $24.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Cousins Properties has a 12 month low of $17.40 and a 12 month high of $29.77. The company has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 59.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 1.31.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.61). Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.31% and a net margin of 7.25%. The company had revenue of $212.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.18 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.75 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cousins Properties will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cousins Properties

In other news, CAO Jeffrey D. Symes sold 5,997 shares of Cousins Properties stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.13, for a total value of $168,695.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $352,440.77. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com raised Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Cousins Properties from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.29.

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.