Verition Fund Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP)

Verition Fund Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) by 31.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 327,842 shares of the company’s stock after selling 149,784 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in COPT Defense Properties were worth $9,943,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Spirit of America Management Corp NY purchased a new stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties during the second quarter worth approximately $50,000. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 711.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,481 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 3,052 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties in the 1st quarter valued at $102,000. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 28.3% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 34.9% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,130 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush raised their price target on COPT Defense Properties from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BTIG Research raised their target price on COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial upped their price target on COPT Defense Properties from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.75.

COPT Defense Properties Stock Up 0.4 %

CDP stock opened at $32.95 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $31.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.53. COPT Defense Properties has a 12 month low of $22.20 and a 12 month high of $34.22. The company has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.01 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.38 and a quick ratio of 2.38.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.64 by ($0.32). COPT Defense Properties had a net margin of 18.34% and a return on equity of 8.99%. The business had revenue of $189.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.37 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

COPT Defense Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. COPT Defense Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.72%.

Insider Activity at COPT Defense Properties

In other news, COO Britt A. Snider acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $29.41 per share, for a total transaction of $29,410.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,000 shares in the company, valued at $58,820. This represents a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About COPT Defense Properties

COPT Defense, an S&P MidCap 400 Company, is a self-managed REIT focused on owning, operating and developing properties in locations proximate to, or sometimes containing, key U.S. Government (USG) defense installations and missions (referred to as its Defense/IT Portfolio). The Company's tenants include the USG and their defense contractors, who are primarily engaged in priority national security activities, and who generally require mission-critical and high security property enhancements.