Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) Rating Increased to Neutral at Mizuho

Mizuho upgraded shares of Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a report published on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $30.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $22.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on CUZ. KeyCorp upgraded 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Cousins Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $31.00 to $32.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cousins Properties has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.11.

Cousins Properties Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE CUZ opened at $29.66 on Tuesday. Cousins Properties has a 52 week low of $21.58 and a 52 week high of $32.55. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $30.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.64. 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 company has a market cap of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.88, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.29.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 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 business had revenue of $209.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.54 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cousins Properties will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.32%. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 387.88%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CUZ. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,140,948 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $357,910,000 after purchasing an additional 458,387 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 0.6% in 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 lifted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 1.3% during the 3rd 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. grew its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 3.4% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 82,521 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Cousins Properties by 3,768.0% in 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. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.