COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) saw a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,520,000 shares, a decrease of 7.1% from the March 15th total of 3,790,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 941,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CDP. Jefferies Financial Group raised COPT Defense Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $28.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 target price (down from $29.00) on shares of COPT Defense Properties in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial reduced their target price on COPT Defense Properties from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded COPT Defense Properties from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.86.

COPT Defense Properties Price Performance

COPT Defense Properties stock traded down $0.57 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $22.28. 1,327,557 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 689,497. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 3.36 and a current ratio of 3.36. COPT Defense Properties has a one year low of $21.73 and a one year high of $26.80.

COPT Defense Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a boost from COPT Defense Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.30%. COPT Defense Properties’s payout ratio 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.