Short Interest in Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Rises By 6.4%

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,510,000 shares, a growth of 6.4% from the September 30th total of 3,300,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Jeffrey D. Symes sold 5,997 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.13, for a total value of $168,695.61. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $352,440.77. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CUZ. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,353,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $561,412,000 after purchasing an additional 456,251 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Cousins Properties by 3.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,140,948 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $357,910,000 after acquiring an additional 458,387 shares in the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 8.9% during the first quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 4,898,757 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $112,377,000 after acquiring an additional 399,468 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Cousins Properties by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,214,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $51,266,000 after acquiring an additional 98,222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Cousins Properties by 75.6% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,917,908 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $46,107,000 after purchasing an additional 825,547 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.38% of the company’s stock.

Cousins Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CUZ traded down $0.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $29.98. 1,303,583 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,299,264. Cousins Properties has a twelve month low of $17.85 and a twelve month high of $32.17. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.97. 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 company has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.24, a PEG ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.30.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.60). The company had revenue of $209.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.54 million. Cousins Properties had a net margin of 6.17% and a return on equity of 1.14%. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Cousins Properties will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cousins Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd were paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 3rd. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 387.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CUZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial upped 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. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Cousins Properties from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cousins Properties currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.67.

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.