COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) Stock Price Down 0.4% – Time to Sell?

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP)’s stock price dropped 0.4% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $32.74 and last traded at $32.83. Approximately 685,918 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 22% from the average daily volume of 875,012 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.95.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CDP has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BTIG Research upped their price target 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. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.75.

COPT Defense Properties Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.91 and a beta of 0.98. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $31.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.56.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by ($0.32). The company had revenue of $189.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.37 million. COPT Defense Properties had a return on equity of 8.99% and a net margin of 18.34%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

COPT Defense Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued 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 3.65%. COPT Defense Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.72%.

Insider Activity at COPT Defense Properties

In other COPT Defense Properties news, COO Britt A. Snider acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.41 per share, for a total transaction of $29,410.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,000 shares in the company, valued at $58,820. This represents a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CWM LLC raised its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 35,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,065,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 58,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,462,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 31,508 shares of the company’s stock worth $789,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 17,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $525,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 21,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the last quarter.

About COPT Defense Properties

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.