COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $26.86.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of COPT Defense Properties from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 target price (down previously from $29.00) on shares of COPT Defense Properties in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of COPT Defense Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $28.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of COPT Defense Properties from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $26.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, December 18th.

COPT Defense Properties Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CDP opened at $23.19 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $23.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.25. COPT Defense Properties has a 52-week low of $21.73 and a 52-week high of $26.80. The company has a quick ratio of 3.36, a current ratio of 3.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The company has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a PE ratio of -34.61, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.93.

COPT Defense Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.09%. This is an increase from COPT Defense Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. COPT Defense Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -176.12%.

About COPT Defense Properties

COPT Defense, an S&P MidCap 400 Company, is a self-managed REIT focused on owning, operating and developing properties in locations proximate to, or sometimes containing, key U.S. Government (USG) defense installations and missions (referred to as its Defense/IT Portfolio). The Company's tenants include the USG and their defense contractors, who are primarily engaged in priority national security activities, and who generally require mission-critical and high security property enhancements.