Copa (NYSE:CPA) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Copa (NYSE:CPA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

CPA has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Copa in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Raymond James Financial set a $164.00 price target on shares of Copa and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Copa from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities started coverage on Copa in a report on Sunday, November 30th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $156.00.

Copa Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of CPA stock opened at $141.05 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $125.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $121.19. Copa has a 12-month low of $82.54 and a 12-month high of $141.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $5.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Copa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st were paid a dividend of $1.61 per share. This represents a $6.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. Copa’s dividend payout ratio is 40.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CPA. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Copa by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,573,570 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $543,432,000 after buying an additional 40,285 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Copa by 3.4% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,313,021 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $156,014,000 after acquiring an additional 42,921 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in Copa by 3.6% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 642,777 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $76,375,000 after acquiring an additional 22,177 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in Copa by 16.6% in the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 552,249 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $60,731,000 after acquiring an additional 78,687 shares during the period. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Copa by 35.2% in the third quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 550,805 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $65,447,000 after acquiring an additional 143,497 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.