Robert W. Baird Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) Stock

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) had its target price upped by Robert W. Baird from $31.00 to $33.00 in a research note published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on CUZ. Barclays increased their price objective on Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the company 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 company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cousins Properties has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.50.

Cousins Properties Trading Up 1.2 %

Cousins Properties stock opened at $31.43 on Monday. Cousins Properties has a 12 month low of $17.85 and a 12 month high of $32.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $4.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.24, a P/E/G ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.25.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.60). Cousins Properties had a net margin of 6.17% and a return on equity of 1.14%. The firm had revenue of $209.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.54 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. Cousins Properties’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cousins Properties 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. Investors of record on Thursday, October 3rd were paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.07%. Cousins Properties’s payout ratio is presently 387.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cousins Properties news, CAO Jeffrey D. Symes sold 5,997 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.13, for a total transaction of $168,695.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,529 shares in the company, valued at $352,440.77. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cousins Properties

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its stake in Cousins Properties by 2.2% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 0.6% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 486 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 124.6% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 246,382 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,923,000 after purchasing an additional 136,685 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 6.8% during the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 49,270 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,184,000 after buying an additional 3,152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 75.6% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,917,908 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $46,107,000 after buying an additional 825,547 shares during the period. 94.38% of the stock is 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.