Copa (NYSE:CPA) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Copa (NYSE:CPA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Sunday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Itau BBA Securities started coverage on Copa in a research report on Sunday, November 30th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $164.00 price objective on Copa and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Copa from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Copa in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Copa presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.50.

Copa Stock Down 0.2%

CPA stock opened at $152.94 on Friday. Copa has a fifty-two week low of $82.54 and a fifty-two week high of $156.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $128.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.93.

Copa (NYSE:CPA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 19th. The transportation company reported $4.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.17. Copa had a net margin of 18.83% and a return on equity of 26.39%. The business had revenue of $913.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $917.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.50 earnings per share. Copa’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Copa will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Copa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a dividend of $1.61 per share. This represents a $6.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. Copa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CPA. Cibc World Market Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Copa by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 57,780 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,969,000 after purchasing an additional 4,932 shares during the last quarter. 1492 Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Copa by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. 1492 Capital Management LLC now owns 60,829 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,337,000 after buying an additional 1,093 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Copa by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 266,471 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,139,000 after buying an additional 23,390 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC boosted its position in Copa by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 2,988 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Severin Investments LLC grew its holdings in Copa by 187.6% during the 4th quarter. Severin Investments LLC now owns 4,846 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $585,000 after acquiring an additional 3,161 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.09% of the company’s stock.

About Copa

Copa Holdings, SA (NYSE:CPA) is a Panama‐based aviation holding company that provides passenger and cargo air transportation across the Americas and the Caribbean. Through its principal subsidiary, Copa Airlines, the company operates a modern fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft, offering scheduled flights that connect passengers through its Tocumen International Airport hub in Panama City. The company also offers dedicated cargo services under the Copa Cargo brand, leveraging belly hold capacity on its passenger flights to transport freight throughout its network.

The roots of Copa Holdings trace back to 1947, when Compañía Panameña de Aviación began operations as the flag carrier of Panama.