Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Short Interest Update

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,440,000 shares, a growth of 19.0% from the February 13th total of 4,570,000 shares. Approximately 3.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,420,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Cousins Properties Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:CUZ traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $29.52. 1,222,612 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,211,398. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.41, 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. Cousins Properties has a one year low of $21.58 and a one year high of $32.55. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.17.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.62. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.00% and a net margin of 5.36%. Sell-side analysts expect that Cousins Properties will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.34%. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 426.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CUZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays reduced their target price on Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Cousins Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $31.00 to $32.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial raised their target price on Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, KeyCorp raised Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cousins Properties has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.89.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Cousins Properties by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,802,104 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $759,936,000 after purchasing an additional 985,934 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cousins Properties by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,491,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $413,375,000 after acquiring an additional 1,350,352 shares during the period. APG Asset Management US Inc. grew its holdings in Cousins Properties by 0.3% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 19,657 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Cousins Properties by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,606,870 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $224,251,000 after acquiring an additional 48,668 shares during the period. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Cousins Properties by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,600,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $171,612,000 after acquiring an additional 585,659 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.