Copa (NYSE:CPA) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Copa (NYSE:CPA) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Sunday morning.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Copa from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Copa in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial set a $164.00 target price on Copa and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Copa from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities initiated coverage on Copa in a research report on Sunday, November 30th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $159.43.

Copa Stock Up 1.2%

CPA opened at $122.02 on Friday. Copa has a 1 year low of $82.54 and a 1 year high of $130.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $121.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $5.02 billion, a PE ratio of 7.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.92.

Copa (NYSE:CPA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 19th. The transportation company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $913.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $917.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.50 earnings per share. Copa’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Copa will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Copa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st were paid a $1.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $6.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. Copa’s payout ratio is 40.05%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Copa

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CPA. Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new position in shares of Copa in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Copa by 408.2% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 249 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Copa by 90.2% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 253 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Copa by 271.4% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 260 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Copa during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. 70.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.