Cousins Properties Incorporated Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.32 (NYSE:CUZ)

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 19th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.32 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd.

Cousins Properties has decreased its dividend by an average of 4.9% annually over the last three years. Cousins Properties has a dividend payout ratio of 441.4% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Cousins Properties to earn $2.72 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.1%.

Cousins Properties Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE:CUZ traded up $0.45 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $29.83. The company had a trading volume of 2,509,635 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,305,809. Cousins Properties has a 12-month low of $21.58 and a 12-month high of $32.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.39, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.88.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.60). Cousins Properties had a net margin of 6.17% and a return on equity of 1.14%. The company had revenue of $209.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.54 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cousins Properties will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on CUZ. Truist Financial increased their target price on Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays upped their price target on Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.14.

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.