Aberdeen Group plc Reduces Position in Copa Holdings, S.A. $CPA

Aberdeen Group plc cut its position in Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE:CPA) by 17.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,611 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 9,689 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.11% of Copa worth $5,622,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CPA. Cullen Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Copa by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC now owns 209,401 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $24,881,000 after buying an additional 25,173 shares in the last quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in Copa during the 3rd quarter worth $4,363,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its stake in Copa by 657.8% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 19,786 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,351,000 after acquiring an additional 17,175 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Copa by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,573,570 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $543,432,000 after acquiring an additional 40,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Copa by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 65,537 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,787,000 after acquiring an additional 8,510 shares in the last quarter. 70.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CPA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Copa from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $151.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Copa in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price target on shares of Copa in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Copa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Copa from $155.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.30.

Copa Stock Up 7.1%

Shares of NYSE:CPA opened at $119.49 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $129.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Copa Holdings, S.A. has a 1-year low of $83.42 and a 1-year high of $156.41.

Copa (NYSE:CPA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The transportation company reported $4.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $962.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $959.22 million. Copa had a net margin of 18.57% and a return on equity of 25.62%. Copa’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Copa Holdings, S.A. will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Copa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.7%. This is an increase from Copa’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.61. Copa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.04%.

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.