Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $32.00.

CUZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Cousins Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $34.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, October 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Cousins Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Cousins Properties from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cousins Properties in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

NYSE CUZ opened at $26.14 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.45, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of 70.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.36. Cousins Properties has a 12-month low of $24.07 and a 12-month high of $32.55. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $27.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.16.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69. Cousins Properties had a net margin of 6.51% and a return on equity of 1.27%. The business had revenue of $246.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. Cousins Properties’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. Cousins Properties has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.820-2.860 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cousins Properties will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 3rd. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 365.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cousins Properties news, CAO Jeffrey D. Symes sold 4,612 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.30, for a total transaction of $135,131.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 13,518 shares in the company, valued at $396,077.40. This represents a 25.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cousins Properties

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Cousins Properties in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cousins Properties in the third quarter valued at approximately $48,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 55.9% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 753 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Cousins Properties by 74.8% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,341 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Cousins Properties by 2,095.3% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,349 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 2,242 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.