Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Copa Holdings, S.A. $CPA

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE:CPA) by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,537 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 8,510 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC owned about 0.16% of Copa worth $7,787,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Copa by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,313,021 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $156,014,000 after acquiring an additional 42,921 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in Copa by 6.9% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 620,600 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $68,247,000 after purchasing an additional 40,078 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Copa by 56.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 340,554 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $31,488,000 after purchasing an additional 122,413 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Copa by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 246,944 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $29,342,000 after purchasing an additional 32,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Copa by 13.7% during 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CPA shares. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 target price on shares of Copa in a research report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Copa from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Copa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 8th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Copa in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Copa from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $151.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Copa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $167.75.

Copa Price Performance

Shares of Copa stock opened at $124.99 on Friday. Copa Holdings, S.A. has a 52 week low of $82.54 and a 52 week high of $156.41. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $136.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $126.17. The stock has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a PE ratio of 7.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Copa (NYSE:CPA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The transportation company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.44 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $962.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $959.22 million. Copa had a return on equity of 25.62% and a net margin of 18.57%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.99 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Copa Holdings, S.A. will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Copa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be issued a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. This is an increase from Copa’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.61. Copa’s payout ratio is 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.