Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

StockNews.com cut shares of Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

CUZ has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wolfe Research upgraded Cousins Properties from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial increased their target price on Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.70.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CUZ traded down $1.71 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $25.24. 269,266 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,253,238. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $29.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.09. Cousins Properties has a 1-year low of $21.58 and a 1-year high of $32.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.54, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.62. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.00% and a net margin of 5.36%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cousins Properties will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio is 426.67%.

Institutional Trading of Cousins Properties

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 1,609.3% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 923 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 869 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Cousins Properties by 67.4% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 981 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Cousins Properties during the 4th quarter valued at $85,000. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Cousins Properties by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 473.5% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,301 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $127,000 after purchasing an additional 3,551 shares during the last quarter. 94.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.