Copa (NYSE:CPA) Upgraded by Jefferies Financial Group to Strong-Buy Rating

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Copa (NYSE:CPA) to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Copa from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Copa in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Barclays cut their price target on Copa from $185.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Copa from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Copa from $138.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Copa has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $168.91.

Copa Stock Up 5.2%

Shares of CPA opened at $150.65 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $128.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.16. Copa has a 1 year low of $99.32 and a 1 year high of $156.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.20 billion, a PE ratio of 8.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.00.

Copa (NYSE:CPA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The transportation company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Copa had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 26.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.28 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Copa will post 15.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Copa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a dividend of $1.71 per share. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. Copa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Copa

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Copa by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,603,671 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $555,249,000 after purchasing an additional 30,101 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Copa by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,647,779 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $198,739,000 after buying an additional 44,834 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Copa by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,396,963 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $158,691,000 after buying an additional 52,243 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in shares of Copa by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 654,830 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $78,979,000 after buying an additional 12,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its position in shares of Copa by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 654,255 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $78,910,000 after buying an additional 22,126 shares during the last quarter. 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.