Short Interest in Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE:CPA) Drops By 6.1%

Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE:CPA) was the target of a large decline in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 550,700 shares, a decline of 6.1% from the March 31st total of 586,700 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 259,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Copa

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in Copa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,656,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Copa by 1,778.4% during the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 958 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 907 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. grew its stake in shares of Copa by 55.0% during the 4th quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $659,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Semanteon Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Copa in the 4th quarter worth about $1,163,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in Copa by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 76,336 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,818,000 after acquiring an additional 3,180 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Copa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th.

Copa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CPA opened at $97.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.61, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.94. Copa has a fifty-two week low of $78.12 and a fifty-two week high of $121.20. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $100.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $97.09.

Copa (NYSE:CPA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The transportation company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.57. The company had revenue of $916.93 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $886.13 million. Copa had a return on equity of 37.03% and a net margin of 14.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.49 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Copa will post 16.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Copa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $1.61 dividend. This represents a $6.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.62%. This is an increase from Copa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Copa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.39%.

Copa Company Profile

Copa Holdings, SA, through its subsidiaries, provides airline passenger and cargo services. The company offers approximately 327 daily scheduled flights to 78 destinations in 32 countries in North, Central, and South America, as well as the Caribbean from its Panama City hub. As of December 31, 2022, it operated a fleet of 97 aircraft comprising 67 Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft, 9 Boeing 737-700 Next Generation aircraft, 1 Boeing 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighter, and 20 737-MAX aircraft.