Copa (NYSE:CPA) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Copa (NYSE:CPA) was upgraded by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on Copa from $155.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Copa from $212.00 to $171.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Copa from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Copa from $138.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Copa in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Copa presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.91.

Copa Price Performance

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

Copa (NYSE:CPA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The transportation company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.73. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Copa had a return on equity of 26.01% and a net margin of 18.76%.Copa’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Copa will post 15.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CPA. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Copa by 1,361,326.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 258,671 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $31,198,000 after buying an additional 258,652 shares during the last quarter. INCA Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Copa during the first quarter worth $26,950,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Copa by 428.4% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 258,251 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $31,148,000 after acquiring an additional 209,381 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Copa during the fourth quarter valued at $18,813,000. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in Copa by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 550,805 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $65,447,000 after acquiring an additional 143,497 shares during the last quarter. 70.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Copa Company Profile

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.