Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Trims Stake in COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lowered its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP - Free Report) by 77.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,410 shares of the company's stock after selling 87,313 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in COPT Defense Properties were worth $771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CDP. Spirit of America Management Corp NY purchased a new stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties during the 2nd quarter valued at $50,000. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 711.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,481 shares of the company's stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 3,052 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of COPT Defense Properties during the 1st quarter valued at $100,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of COPT Defense Properties during the 1st quarter valued at $102,000. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 28.3% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,810 shares of the company's stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on CDP shares. Evercore ISI increased their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial raised 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.86.

COPT Defense Properties Stock Performance

Shares of CDP traded up $0.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $31.84. 3,044,874 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 867,336. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $31.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.17. COPT Defense Properties has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $34.22. The stock has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.07 and a beta of 0.98.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.64 by ($0.32). The business had revenue of $189.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.37 million. COPT Defense Properties had a net margin of 18.34% and a return on equity of 8.99%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

COPT Defense Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. COPT Defense Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.72%.

Insider Transactions at COPT Defense Properties

In related news, COO Britt A. Snider bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.41 per share, with a total value of $29,410.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 2,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $58,820. This represents a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.06% of the company's stock.

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.