Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) to Issue $0.32 Quarterly Dividend

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 18th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.32 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.34%.

Cousins Properties has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.8% annually over the last three years. Cousins Properties has a payout ratio of 272.3% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Cousins Properties to earn $2.84 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 45.1%.

Cousins Properties Stock Up 0.6 %

CUZ opened at $29.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.17. Cousins Properties has a 52 week low of $21.58 and a 52 week high of $32.55. The company has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a PE ratio of 98.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on CUZ. KeyCorp raised shares of Cousins Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Cousins Properties from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Cousins Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Cousins Properties in a research report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. 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.

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.