Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC Sells 263,361 Shares of COPT Defense Properties $CDP

Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC lowered its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) by 37.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 440,637 shares of the company’s stock after selling 263,361 shares during the period. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC’s holdings in COPT Defense Properties were worth $12,805,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of COPT Defense Properties in the 2nd quarter worth $39,371,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 60.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,472,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,393,000 after purchasing an additional 551,863 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 21.0% in the third quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 2,913,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,669,000 after purchasing an additional 506,593 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 5.9% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 7,241,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,719,000 after buying an additional 406,617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its position in shares of COPT Defense Properties by 38.8% during the third quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 1,001,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,104,000 after buying an additional 279,790 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CDP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $29.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on COPT Defense Properties from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on COPT Defense Properties from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.63.

COPT Defense Properties Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CDP opened at $31.80 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.95, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. COPT Defense Properties has a 12 month low of $23.92 and a 12 month high of $32.82. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.53. The stock has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.56 and a beta of 0.86.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. COPT Defense Properties had a net margin of 19.94% and a return on equity of 9.82%. The firm had revenue of $197.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.79 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. COPT Defense Properties has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.710-2.790 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.670-0.690 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

COPT Defense Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This is a positive change from COPT Defense Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. COPT Defense Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other COPT Defense Properties news, Director Philip L. Hawkins sold 5,536 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.71, for a total value of $181,082.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $496,799.48. The trade was a 26.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About COPT Defense Properties

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE: CDP) is a real estate investment trust organized to own, lease and manage healthcare and life science facilities serving the United States federal government, with a particular focus on Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs tenants. The company was formed in 2016 through a spin-off from Corporate Office Properties Trust, enabling it to concentrate exclusively on medical office buildings and specialized research facilities situated on or near military and federal research campuses.

The company’s portfolio comprises purpose-built, Class A medical office and outpatient specialty clinics, as well as life science laboratories.