Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) Now Covered by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $35.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on CUZ. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Cousins Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. KeyCorp raised Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho upgraded Cousins Properties from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cousins Properties has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.89.

Cousins Properties Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:CUZ opened at $29.81 on Monday. 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 0.64, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The business’s 50-day moving average is $29.92 and its 200-day moving average is $30.17. The company has a market capitalization of $5.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.28.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.62. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.00% and a net margin of 5.36%. Equities research analysts predict that Cousins Properties will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. Cousins Properties’s payout ratio is 426.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Cousins Properties in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,456,000. Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 155.1% in the fourth quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 125,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,830,000 after acquiring an additional 76,000 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cousins Properties during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $793,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in Cousins Properties during the fourth quarter worth $85,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in Cousins Properties by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 294,645 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,028,000 after acquiring an additional 19,831 shares during the period. 94.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.