Barclays PLC Raises Stake in COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP)

Barclays PLC lifted its position in COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) by 87.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 218,999 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 102,280 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in COPT Defense Properties were worth $6,643,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake 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 worth $81,948,000 after buying an additional 1,293,761 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 179.5% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,190,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,807,000 after purchasing an additional 764,859 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 404.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 792,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,043,000 after purchasing an additional 635,705 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 564,794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 315.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 567,997 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,978,000 after purchasing an additional 431,173 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CDP. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research 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 research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price target on COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.00.

COPT Defense Properties Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of CDP stock opened at $30.93 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a PE ratio of 25.35 and a beta of 0.98. COPT Defense Properties has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $34.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.26. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $189.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.37 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current year.

COPT Defense Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. COPT Defense Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 96.72%.

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.