Earnest Partners LLC Grows Position in COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP)

Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,795,639 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 89,571 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC owned 4.26% of COPT Defense Properties worth $148,425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in COPT Defense Properties by 77.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties during the 4th quarter worth $90,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in COPT Defense Properties in the third quarter worth $91,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in COPT Defense Properties in the fourth quarter worth $110,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on COPT Defense Properties in a research report on Monday, March 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, COPT Defense Properties currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.43.

COPT Defense Properties Price Performance

CDP stock opened at $26.41 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.47 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $26.58 and its 200 day moving average is $29.42. COPT Defense Properties has a 52 week low of $23.47 and a 52 week 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Research analysts predict that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

COPT Defense Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.305 dividend. This is a boost from COPT Defense Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. COPT Defense Properties’s payout ratio is 99.19%.

COPT Defense Properties Profile

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.