Russell Investments Group Ltd. Decreases Stake in COPT Defense Properties $CDP

Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) by 54.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 118,716 shares of the company’s stock after selling 141,460 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.11% of COPT Defense Properties worth $3,237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CDP. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in COPT Defense Properties during the 1st quarter worth about $52,679,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in COPT Defense Properties by 25.7% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 3,627,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,911,000 after buying an additional 741,765 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in COPT Defense Properties in the 1st quarter worth approximately $19,737,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in COPT Defense Properties by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,737,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,785,000 after buying an additional 281,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 32.5% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,103,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,981,000 after acquiring an additional 270,508 shares during the period.

COPT Defense Properties Trading Up 1.8%

COPT Defense Properties stock opened at $28.9540 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of 22.62 and a beta of 0.87. COPT Defense Properties has a 12 month low of $23.92 and a 12 month high of $34.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 2.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $175.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.55 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. COPT Defense Properties has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.660-0.680 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 2.650-2.690 EPS. Analysts anticipate that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

COPT Defense Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.305 per share. This represents a $1.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. COPT Defense Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 95.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of COPT Defense Properties from $36.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.17.

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.