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

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 8th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of 0.295 per share on Thursday, October 17th. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th.

COPT Defense Properties has a dividend payout ratio of 92.7% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Analysts expect COPT Defense Properties to earn $2.65 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 43.0%.

COPT Defense Properties Price Performance

NYSE CDP opened at $30.59 on Friday. COPT Defense Properties has a 52-week low of $22.20 and a 52-week high of $30.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a current ratio of 3.17. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.03. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.32, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.99.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $187.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.11 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Britt A. Snider acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.41 per share, for a total transaction of $29,410.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,820. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.