COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) Plans $0.30 Quarterly Dividend

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 15th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.295 per share on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st.

COPT Defense Properties has a dividend payout ratio of 92.7% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Equities research analysts expect COPT Defense Properties to earn $2.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.14 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.5%.

COPT Defense Properties Price Performance

COPT Defense Properties stock opened at $29.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a PE ratio of 24.52 and a beta of 0.98. COPT Defense Properties has a 52-week low of $22.20 and a 52-week high of $34.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The company’s 50 day moving average is $31.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.03.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by ($0.32). COPT Defense Properties had a return on equity of 8.99% and a net margin of 18.34%. The business had revenue of $189.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.37 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. COPT Defense Properties’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at COPT Defense Properties

In other news, COO Britt A. Snider purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $29.41 per share, for a total transaction of $29,410.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,000 shares in the company, valued at $58,820. The trade was a 100.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CDP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 report on Wednesday, September 4th. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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 research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, COPT Defense Properties has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.86.

COPT Defense Properties Company Profile

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.