Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $35.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

CUZ has been the topic of several other research reports. KeyCorp upgraded 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. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of 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 research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.89.

Cousins Properties Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE CUZ opened at $29.81 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $29.92 and its 200-day moving average is $30.17. Cousins Properties has a one year low of $21.58 and a one year high of $32.55. The firm has a market cap of $5.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 99.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.28.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cousins Properties will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. Cousins Properties’s payout ratio is presently 426.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 3.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,140,948 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $357,910,000 after acquiring an additional 458,387 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Cousins Properties by 19,163.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,201 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 5,174 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in Cousins Properties during the 3rd quarter worth about $208,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Cousins Properties by 368.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 781,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $23,052,000 after buying an additional 615,118 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 3.7% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 67,728 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,997,000 after buying an additional 2,418 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.38% of the company’s stock.

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.