Brokerages Set Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Price Target at $23.67

Shares of Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.67.

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd.

Cousins Properties Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:CUZ opened at $25.18 on Friday. Cousins Properties has a 12 month low of $17.40 and a 12 month high of $25.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.37, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 1.30.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.54). The business had revenue of $209.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.35 million. Cousins Properties had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 1.62%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cousins Properties will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.08%. Cousins Properties’s payout ratio is 261.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cousins Properties

In other Cousins Properties news, CFO Gregg D. Adzema sold 71,097 shares of Cousins Properties stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.31, for a total value of $1,657,271.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 85,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,001,676.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cousins Properties during the fourth quarter worth about $35,502,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,208,784 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $297,284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407,164 shares in the last quarter. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cousins Properties during the fourth quarter worth about $32,105,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 49.2% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,781,184 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $67,722,000 after purchasing an additional 916,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 75.6% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,917,908 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $46,107,000 after purchasing an additional 825,547 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.