Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP)

Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $31.00 target price on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the company. BTIG Research increased their target price on COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Truist Financial upped their price target 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, COPT Defense Properties presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.38.

COPT Defense Properties Stock Performance

Shares of COPT Defense Properties stock opened at $27.06 on Monday. COPT Defense Properties has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $34.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $28.19 and its 200 day moving average is $30.19. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.00 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 2.38.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.33. COPT Defense Properties had a net margin of 18.44% and a return on equity of 9.07%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

COPT Defense Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.305 per share. This represents a $1.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.51%. This is a boost from COPT Defense Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. COPT Defense Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.19%.

Institutional Trading of COPT Defense Properties

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position 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 last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of COPT Defense Properties in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,718,000. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC boosted its holdings in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 192.9% in the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,158,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,847,000 after buying an additional 762,840 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in COPT Defense Properties by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,906,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,001,000 after buying an additional 723,486 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 35.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,693,332 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,689,000 after buying an additional 710,491 shares during the last quarter.

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.