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

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, September 17th, NASDAQ reports. Investors of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.32 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 3rd.

Cousins Properties has decreased its dividend by an average of 4.9% per year over the last three years. Cousins Properties has a payout ratio of 581.8% 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 $2.69 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 47.6%.

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

NYSE CUZ traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $29.14. The company had a trading volume of 1,912,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,338,077. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 1.31. Cousins Properties has a fifty-two week low of $17.40 and a fifty-two week high of $29.77. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.47.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.61). Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.31% and a net margin of 7.25%. The firm had revenue of $212.98 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.18 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Cousins Properties will post 2.67 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cousins Properties

In other Cousins Properties news, CAO Jeffrey D. Symes sold 5,997 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.13, for a total transaction of $168,695.61. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $352,440.77. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CUZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on Cousins Properties from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com raised Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.29.

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.