COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) Stock Price Up 1.4% – Time to Buy?

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) shares rose 1.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $31.11 and last traded at $31.11. Approximately 105,056 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 854,421 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.69.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CDP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on COPT Defense Properties from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.86.

COPT Defense Properties Trading Up 2.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.38 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The business has a 50 day moving average of $31.33 and a 200 day moving average of $28.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10 and a beta of 0.98.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $189.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.37 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

COPT Defense Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. COPT Defense Properties’s payout ratio is 96.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at COPT Defense Properties

In other COPT Defense Properties news, COO Britt A. Snider bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $29.41 per share, with a total value of $29,410.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 2,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,820. The trade was a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of COPT Defense Properties

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 1.4% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 35,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,065,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 1.0% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 58,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,462,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 1.9% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 31,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $789,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 3.5% in the third quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 17,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 3.4% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 21,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares in the last quarter.

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.