Earnest Partners LLC Lowers Stock Position in COPT Defense Properties $CDP

Key Points

• Earnest Partners LLC reduced its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 1.4%, now holding approximately 4.19% of the company, valued at about $128.9 million.
• Wells Fargo & Company has lowered its target price for COPT Defense Properties from $36.00 to $30.00, maintaining an "overweight" rating amidst mixed analyst recommendations.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.305, indicating a yield of 4.3% with a high dividend payout ratio of 95.31%.

Earnest Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,727,853 shares of the company's stock after selling 67,786 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC owned 4.19% of COPT Defense Properties worth $128,929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,945,257 shares of the company's stock worth $53,047,000 after purchasing an additional 38,916 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 23.5% during the 1st quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 27,034 shares of the company's stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 5,145 shares during the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC raised its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,403,647 shares of the company's stock worth $38,277,000 after purchasing an additional 245,440 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 17,517 shares of the company's stock worth $478,000 after purchasing an additional 3,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 711,833 shares of the company's stock worth $19,412,000 after purchasing an additional 63,978 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on COPT Defense Properties from $36.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $33.17.

COPT Defense Properties Trading Down 0.3%

CDP traded down $0.10 during trading on Monday, hitting $28.77. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,069,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 846,950. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $28.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.96 and a quick ratio of 2.96. The stock has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a PE ratio of 22.47 and a beta of 0.93. COPT Defense Properties has a twelve month low of $23.92 and a twelve month high of $34.22.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $175.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.55 million. COPT Defense Properties had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 19.23%.COPT Defense Properties's revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. COPT Defense Properties has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.660-0.680 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 2.650-2.690 EPS. On average, analysts expect that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

COPT Defense Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.305 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. COPT Defense Properties's payout ratio is currently 95.31%.

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.