COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $32.00.

CDP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, BTIG Research increased 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 note on Wednesday, November 27th.

COPT Defense Properties Stock Performance

NYSE CDP opened at $31.11 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.35. 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 $3.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.50 and a beta of 0.98.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) last posted its 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 return on equity of 8.99% and a net margin of 18.34%. The business had revenue of $189.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.37 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

COPT Defense Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. COPT Defense Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.72%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 2,421 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 9,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 2,483 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 443.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 692,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,327,000 after buying an additional 564,794 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 58,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,462,000 after buying an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spirit of America Management Corp NY bought a new stake in COPT Defense Properties during the 2nd quarter valued at $50,000.

COPT Defense Properties Company Profile

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.