UPDATE: Bank of America Upgrades Corporate Office Properties Trust to Neutral

Bank of America has published a research report on Corporation Office Properties Trust

and has upgraded the company from Underperform to Neutral. In the report, Bank of America wrote, "Since 1Q11, OFC has focused on improving its balance sheet and portfolio quality through development leasing, non-core asset sales and occupancy growth. Since that time, a lack of visibility on government spending kept tenant demand weak. The leasing environment and the restructuring process also weighed on earnings and the stock. The stock underperformed the REIT sector over the past year with a +23% total return vs. 38% for the sector. OFC has now worked its way through much of its strategic plan and continues to chip away at leasing its developments. The 1.25M SF pipeline is now 58% pre-leased. We also believe OFC's new CEO has done a good job in the role" Bank of America also raised the price objective from $22 to $25 on Corporate Office Properties Trust, which is currently trading up 2.15 percent from Tuesday's $24.66 closing price.