Graham Capital Management L.P. Lowers Holdings in COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP)

Graham Capital Management L.P. cut its position in COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) by 87.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,053 shares of the company’s stock after selling 57,559 shares during the quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in COPT Defense Properties were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in COPT Defense Properties by 813.0% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,247,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,371,000 after acquiring an additional 5,563,548 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in COPT Defense Properties by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 4,795,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,425,000 after purchasing an additional 89,571 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in COPT Defense Properties by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,283,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,621,000 after purchasing an additional 590,051 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in COPT Defense Properties by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,099,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,916,000 after purchasing an additional 335,775 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in COPT Defense Properties by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 2,139,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,216,000 after purchasing an additional 24,577 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of COPT Defense Properties in a report on Monday, March 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, COPT Defense Properties currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.43.

COPT Defense Properties Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:CDP opened at $27.45 on Monday. COPT Defense Properties has a one year low of $23.47 and a one year high of $34.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.32 and a beta of 0.86.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.65. COPT Defense Properties had a net margin of 18.44% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The business had revenue of $187.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.37 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

COPT Defense Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.305 per share. This represents a $1.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.44%. This is a boost from COPT Defense Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. COPT Defense Properties’s payout ratio is presently 97.60%.

COPT Defense Properties Company Profile

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.