Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) Upgraded at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $36.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $33.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets cut Cousins Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $32.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. KeyCorp raised Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.50.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

Shares of CUZ opened at $30.55 on Thursday. Cousins Properties has a 1 year low of $21.58 and a 1 year high of $32.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $30.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.47. The firm has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a PE ratio of 92.58, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.19%. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 387.88%.

Institutional Trading of Cousins Properties

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CUZ. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Cousins Properties by 368.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 781,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $23,052,000 after acquiring an additional 615,118 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,205,415 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $65,016,000 after purchasing an additional 302,309 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. bought a new position in shares of Cousins Properties during the 2nd quarter valued at about $597,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,864,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $84,457,000 after buying an additional 36,727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd lifted its position in Cousins Properties by 240.7% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 29,757 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $689,000 after buying an additional 21,022 shares during 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.