Brokerages Set COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) PT at $33.43

Shares of COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $33.43.

Several research firms have issued reports on CDP. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on COPT Defense Properties in a research note on Monday, March 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On COPT Defense Properties

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CDP. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 813.0% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,247,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,371,000 after purchasing an additional 5,563,548 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 4,795,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $148,425,000 after buying an additional 89,571 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,283,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,621,000 after buying an additional 590,051 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,099,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,916,000 after acquiring an additional 335,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,927,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,797,000 after acquiring an additional 21,388 shares during the period.

COPT Defense Properties Price Performance

Shares of COPT Defense Properties stock opened at $27.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.16 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.07. COPT Defense Properties has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $34.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.47.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.33. COPT Defense Properties had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 18.44%. As a group, research analysts expect that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

COPT Defense Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.305 dividend. This represents a $1.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from COPT Defense Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. COPT Defense Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.19%.

About COPT Defense Properties

COPT Defense Properties is a real estate investment trust. It acquires, develops, manages, sells, and leases out office properties and data centers. The firm operates through the following segments: Defense/Information Technology Locations, Regional Office, Wholesale Data Center, and Other. The company was founded on January 22,1988 and is headquartered in Columbia, MD.