Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) Rating Increased to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

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

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

Cousins Properties Stock Performance

Shares of Cousins Properties stock opened at $30.93 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.42. Cousins Properties has a 1 year low of $21.58 and a 1 year high of $32.55. The firm has a market cap of $4.89 billion, a PE ratio of 93.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.29.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last issued 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). The business had revenue of $209.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.54 million. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 1.14% and a net margin of 6.17%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Cousins Properties will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given 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 dividend yield of 4.14%. Cousins Properties’s payout ratio is 387.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cousins Properties

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Cousins Properties by 21.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,749,662 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $51,580,000 after buying an additional 309,571 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 36.6% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 31,660 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,004,000 after buying an additional 8,479 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cousins Properties in the third quarter worth approximately $227,000. TCW Group Inc. bought a new position in Cousins Properties during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,274,000. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cousins Properties during the third quarter valued at about $208,000. 94.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.