Dark Forest Capital Management LP Decreases Position in COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP decreased its stake in COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) by 60.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,446 shares of the company’s stock after selling 51,874 shares during the quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP’s holdings in COPT Defense Properties were worth $837,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 1.0% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 58,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,462,000 after buying an additional 574 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of 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 period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $500,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 12.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 9,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. raised its position in COPT Defense Properties by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 17,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Britt A. Snider bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $29.41 per share, with a total value of $29,410.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,820. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on CDP. Wedbush boosted their target price on COPT Defense Properties from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on COPT Defense Properties from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, COPT Defense Properties has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.00.

COPT Defense Properties Price Performance

CDP opened at $30.52 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.26, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 3.17, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. COPT Defense Properties has a 12-month low of $22.20 and a 12-month high of $30.99. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.99.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.64 by ($0.33). COPT Defense Properties had a negative return on equity of 7.52% and a negative net margin of 15.75%. The business had revenue of $187.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.11 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

COPT Defense Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 17th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. COPT Defense Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -109.26%.

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.