Cousins Properties (CUZ) Competitors

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) and American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends and risk.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, CUZ or AAT?

American Assets Trust has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Cousins Properties. American Assets Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cousins Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cousins Properties	$856.76M	5.53	$45.96M	$0.33	85.52
American Assets Trust	$457.86M	2.69	$72.82M	$1.27	15.87

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of CUZ or AAT?

94.4% of Cousins Properties shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.4% of American Assets Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Cousins Properties shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 36.8% of American Assets Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, CUZ or AAT?

Cousins Properties has a beta of 1.33, suggesting that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Assets Trust has a beta of 1.15, suggesting that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is CUZ or AAT more profitable?

American Assets Trust has a net margin of 17.57% compared to Cousins Properties' net margin of 5.97%. American Assets Trust's return on equity of 7.02% beat Cousins Properties' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cousins Properties	5.97%	1.15%	0.65%
American Assets Trust	17.57%	7.02%	2.54%

Does the media favor CUZ or AAT?

In the previous week, Cousins Properties had 8 more articles in the media than American Assets Trust. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Cousins Properties and 3 mentions for American Assets Trust. American Assets Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.30 beat Cousins Properties' score of 1.13 indicating that American Assets Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Cousins Properties	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
American Assets Trust	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is CUZ or AAT a better dividend stock?

Cousins Properties pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. American Assets Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. Cousins Properties pays out 387.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Assets Trust pays out 107.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Assets Trust has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. American Assets Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts rate CUZ or AAT?

Cousins Properties currently has a consensus target price of $32.50, indicating a potential upside of 15.17%. American Assets Trust has a consensus target price of $21.00, indicating a potential upside of 4.22%. Given Cousins Properties' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Cousins Properties is more favorable than American Assets Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cousins Properties	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
American Assets Trust	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Summary

American Assets Trust beats Cousins Properties on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.