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

Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE:CPA - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,480,000 shares, a growth of 8.8% from the December 31st total of 1,360,000 shares. Currently, 4.9% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 337,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Institutional Trading of Copa

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Copa in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $895,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Copa by 29.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,690 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the period. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc raised its holdings in shares of Copa by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc now owns 18,277 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,715,000 after buying an additional 3,259 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in Copa by 7,848.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 418,588 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $39,280,000 after acquiring an additional 413,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Copa during the 3rd quarter valued at about $291,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.09% of the company's stock.

Copa Stock Up 1.1 %

Copa stock traded up $0.96 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $91.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 202,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 283,493. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.08, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.44. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $89.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.16.

Copa (NYSE:CPA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The transportation company reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $854.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $864.90 million. Copa had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 28.46%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Copa will post 14.44 EPS for the current year.

Copa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $1.61 per share. This represents a $6.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Copa's payout ratio is currently 42.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on CPA. StockNews.com cut Copa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Copa from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Copa has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $153.29.

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.