Short Interest in COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) Declines By 12.8%

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,300,000 shares, a drop of 12.8% from the February 28th total of 6,080,000 shares. Currently, 4.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,020,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On COPT Defense Properties

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CDP. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $423,000 after purchasing an additional 813 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 237.7% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 54,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,684,000 after purchasing an additional 38,288 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in COPT Defense Properties during the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 316,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,785,000 after acquiring an additional 9,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties during the 4th quarter valued at about $414,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CDP. Truist Financial boosted their price target on COPT Defense Properties from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on COPT Defense Properties in a research note on Monday, March 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.43.

COPT Defense Properties Price Performance

CDP traded down $0.53 during trading on Thursday, reaching $27.07. 251,710 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 910,700. The company’s 50-day moving average is $27.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.03. The company has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.01 and a beta of 0.96. COPT Defense Properties has a 12-month low of $22.20 and a 12-month high of $34.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share 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 forecast that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

COPT Defense Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.305 per share. This represents a $1.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from COPT Defense Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. COPT Defense Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.