Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $32.17 and last traded at $32.17, with a volume of 508447 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.37.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CUZ. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Cousins Properties from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised their target price 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 upped their price target 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. Finally, 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 report on Friday, August 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cousins Properties has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.67.

Cousins Properties Trading Up 0.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a PE ratio of 64.37, a P/E/G ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.76.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.61). Cousins Properties had a net margin of 7.25% and a return on equity of 1.31%. The company had revenue of $212.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.18 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.75 EPS. Cousins Properties’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cousins Properties Incorporated will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd were given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 3rd. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 261.22%.

Insider Activity at Cousins Properties

In other Cousins Properties news, CAO Jeffrey D. Symes sold 5,997 shares of the stock in a transaction 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Cousins Properties by 75.6% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Cousins Properties during the first quarter valued at approximately $14,306,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,353,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $561,412,000 after purchasing an additional 456,251 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Cousins Properties by 92.8% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 853,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $19,758,000 after buying an additional 410,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Cousins Properties by 8.9% during the first quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 4,898,757 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $112,377,000 after buying an additional 399,468 shares during the last quarter. 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.