Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) Now Covered by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $35.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Mizuho raised shares of Cousins Properties from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Cousins Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cousins Properties presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.89.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

Shares of Cousins Properties stock opened at $29.33 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $4.92 billion, a PE ratio of 97.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $29.92 and a 200-day moving average of $30.16. Cousins Properties has a 1-year low of $21.58 and a 1-year high of $32.55.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.62. Cousins Properties had a net margin of 5.36% and a return on equity of 1.00%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cousins Properties will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 426.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cousins Properties

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,802,104 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $759,936,000 after buying an additional 985,934 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,491,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $413,375,000 after buying an additional 1,350,352 shares during the period. APG Asset Management US Inc. increased its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 7,853,306 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $240,625,000 after buying an additional 19,657 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased 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 worth $224,251,000 after buying an additional 48,668 shares during the period. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,600,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $171,612,000 after buying an additional 585,659 shares during the period. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cousins Properties Company Profile

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.