COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) Trading Up 0.7% – Here’s What Happened

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) shares traded up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $32.88 and last traded at $32.72. 426,236 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 52% from the average session volume of 883,821 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on CDP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on COPT Defense Properties from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on COPT Defense Properties from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.00.

COPT Defense Properties Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.82 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.14. 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 earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $167.37 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

COPT Defense Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. COPT Defense Properties’s payout ratio is currently 96.72%.

Institutional Trading of COPT Defense Properties

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CDP. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 55,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,684,000 after purchasing an additional 13,606 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 82.3% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 38,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,179,000 after buying an additional 17,553 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 65.3% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,274,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,948,000 after buying an additional 1,293,761 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 66.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 233,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,808,000 after buying an additional 93,396 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 173.3% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 36,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $918,000 after buying an additional 23,257 shares in the last quarter.

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.