Great Lakes Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 268,810 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,021 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.24% of COPT Defense Properties worth $8,320,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 32.5% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 55,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,684,000 after acquiring an additional 13,606 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 82.3% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 38,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,179,000 after purchasing an additional 17,553 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,763,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,810,000 after acquiring an additional 49,300 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 376,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,666,000 after purchasing an additional 18,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 33.4% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,271 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CDP shares. BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.88.

COPT Defense Properties Stock Performance

CDP opened at $26.30 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $28.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The company has a market capitalization of $2.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.38 and a beta of 0.96. COPT Defense Properties has a 1-year low of $22.20 and a 1-year high of $34.22.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

COPT Defense Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.64%. This is a boost from COPT Defense Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. COPT Defense Properties’s payout ratio is currently 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.