Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Short Interest Update

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,440,000 shares, an increase of 19.0% from the February 13th total of 4,570,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,420,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days. Currently, 3.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Cousins Properties Stock Up 0.6 %

CUZ traded up $0.17 on Tuesday, hitting $29.52. 1,222,612 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,211,398. Cousins Properties has a 12 month low of $21.58 and a 12 month high of $32.55. The company has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a PE ratio of 98.41, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.92 and its 200-day moving average is $30.17.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.34%. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio is 426.67%.

Institutional Trading of Cousins Properties

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Cousins Properties by 1,609.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 923 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 869 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Cousins Properties by 67.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 981 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Cousins Properties by 49.7% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,319 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in Cousins Properties in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $85,000. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its stake in Cousins Properties by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 643 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on CUZ. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Cousins Properties in a report on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Cousins Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.89.

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.