Easterly Investment Partners LLC Purchases 181,935 Shares of COPT Defense Properties $CDP

Key Points

• Easterly Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 154.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 181,935 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 299,934 shares worth about $8.34 million.
• Several other institutional investors also adjusted positions in the stock, while analyst sentiment remains constructive overall with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $34.50.
• COPT Defense Properties recently reported Q1 earnings that missed EPS estimates but beat revenue expectations, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share, implying a 4.0% annualized yield.

Easterly Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP - Free Report) by 154.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 299,934 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 181,935 shares during the quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC owned 0.26% of COPT Defense Properties worth $8,338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 99,812 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,775,000 after purchasing an additional 1,556 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 172,220 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,817 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,685,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,149,130 shares of the company's stock valued at $87,558,000 after purchasing an additional 17,049 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 764,942 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,265,000 after purchasing an additional 53,735 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CDP shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded COPT Defense Properties from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on COPT Defense Properties from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of COPT Defense Properties in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of COPT Defense Properties in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $34.50.

COPT Defense Properties Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of CDP opened at $32.05 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.22 and a beta of 0.79. COPT Defense Properties has a 1 year low of $26.91 and a 1 year high of $33.33. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $31.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.85 and a quick ratio of 2.85.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.34). The company had revenue of $200.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $185.10 million. COPT Defense Properties had a net margin of 20.10% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. COPT Defense Properties has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.730-2.790 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.680-0.700 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

COPT Defense Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. COPT Defense Properties's payout ratio is currently 92.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at COPT Defense Properties

In other news, Director Robert L. Denton sold 3,922 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.38, for a total transaction of $126,994.36. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,803 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $123,141.14. The trade was a 50.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.66% of the company's stock.

COPT Defense Properties Company Profile

COPT Defense Properties NYSE: CDP is a real estate investment trust organized to own, lease and manage healthcare and life science facilities serving the United States federal government, with a particular focus on Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs tenants. The company was formed in 2016 through a spin-off from Corporate Office Properties Trust, enabling it to concentrate exclusively on medical office buildings and specialized research facilities situated on or near military and federal research campuses.

The company's portfolio comprises purpose-built, Class A medical office and outpatient specialty clinics, as well as life science laboratories.

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