Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE:CPA) Short Interest Update

Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE:CPA) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,360,000 shares, a decline of 6.2% from the November 30th total of 1,450,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 352,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.9 days. Approximately 4.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Copa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $148.83.

Institutional Trading of Copa

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Copa by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,086,189 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $293,743,000 after purchasing an additional 236,850 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Copa by 1.9% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 871,928 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $82,990,000 after acquiring an additional 16,100 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Copa by 8.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 829,478 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $78,950,000 after acquiring an additional 65,525 shares during the period. Carrhae Capital LLP acquired a new stake in Copa in the 3rd quarter worth about $52,166,000. Finally, Marathon Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Copa by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Marathon Asset Management Ltd now owns 514,679 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $48,297,000 after purchasing an additional 8,524 shares during the period. 70.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Copa Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:CPA traded up $0.45 on Tuesday, hitting $87.87. 18,223 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 292,515. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $94.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.81. Copa has a 52 week low of $80.01 and a 52 week high of $114.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.45.

Copa (NYSE:CPA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The transportation company reported $3.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. Copa had a return on equity of 28.46% and a net margin of 18.20%. The firm had revenue of $854.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $864.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.39 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Copa will post 14.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Copa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $1.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $6.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.33%. Copa’s payout ratio is 42.59%.

About Copa

Copa Holdings, SA, through its subsidiaries, provides airline passenger and cargo services. The company offers approximately 375 daily scheduled flights to 82 destinations in 32 countries in North, Central, and South America, as well as the Caribbean from its Panama City hub. As of December 31, 2023, it operated a fleet of 106 aircraft comprising 76 Boeing 737-Next Generation aircraft, 29 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, and one Boeing 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighter.