Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Acquires 101,762 Shares of COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP)

Key Points

• The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 881.4% in the first quarter, acquiring a total of 113,307 shares valued at approximately $3.09 million.
• COPT Defense Properties reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, exceeding estimates, with year-over-year revenue growth of 1.4%, totaling $175.6 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.305, resulting in a 4.3% dividend yield and a significant payout ratio of 95.31%.

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP - Free Report) by 881.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 113,307 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 101,762 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board owned about 0.10% of COPT Defense Properties worth $3,090,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in COPT Defense Properties by 321.7% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,071 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 817 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties in the 4th quarter worth $63,000. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,591 shares of the company's stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in COPT Defense Properties by 114.0% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,770 shares of the company's stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 28.3% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,371 shares of the company's stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 964 shares during the period.

Insider Activity at COPT Defense Properties

In other news, Director Robert L. Denton sold 4,398 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.70, for a total value of $117,426.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.42% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on COPT Defense Properties from $36.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Two equities 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $33.17.

COPT Defense Properties Price Performance

NYSE:CDP traded down $0.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $27.75. 608,039 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 814,128. The company has a quick ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 2.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. COPT Defense Properties has a 1 year low of $23.92 and a 1 year high of $34.22. The company has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.68 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $28.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.47.

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. COPT Defense Properties had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 9.38%. The business had revenue of $175.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

COPT Defense Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a $0.305 dividend. This represents a $1.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. COPT Defense Properties's payout ratio is 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.