Lazard Asset Management LLC Boosts Holdings in COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP)

Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP - Free Report) by 84.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,839 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 18,193 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC's holdings in COPT Defense Properties were worth $1,233,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CDP. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of COPT Defense Properties in the 4th quarter valued at about $16,063,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,081 shares of the company's stock valued at $157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,271 shares during the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC lifted its position in COPT Defense Properties by 192.9% in the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,158,207 shares of the company's stock worth $35,847,000 after buying an additional 762,840 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in COPT Defense Properties during the fourth quarter worth $1,397,000. Finally, Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its position in COPT Defense Properties by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 1,359,335 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,071,000 after acquiring an additional 5,031 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CDP shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of COPT Defense Properties in a research note on Monday, March 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $31.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on COPT Defense Properties from $36.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $33.14.

COPT Defense Properties Stock Down 0.0%

NYSE CDP traded down $0.00 on Friday, reaching $26.98. 756,776 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 931,337. COPT Defense Properties has a 12 month low of $23.47 and a 12 month high of $34.22. The company has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $26.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.47.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.65. The firm had revenue of $187.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.37 million. COPT Defense Properties had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 18.44%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

COPT Defense Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.305 dividend. This represents a $1.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. COPT Defense Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 97.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert L. Denton sold 4,398 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.70, for a total value of $117,426.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.