Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated their outperform rating on shares of Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a $110.00 price target on the bank’s stock, up from their prior price target of $103.00.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Popular from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Hovde Group increased their price objective on shares of Popular from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Popular from $96.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Popular from $103.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of Popular in a report on Friday, March 8th. They issued an overweight rating and a $99.00 price target on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Popular has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $99.89.

Popular Price Performance

Popular stock opened at $86.58 on Wednesday. Popular has a 12-month low of $52.32 and a 12-month high of $89.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.85 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $84.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.05.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.89. The business had revenue of $702.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $699.76 million. Popular had a net margin of 11.95% and a return on equity of 11.95%. As a group, analysts forecast that Popular will post 8.46 EPS for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.86%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.80%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 4,641 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.42, for a total transaction of $391,793.22. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,772 shares in the company, valued at $2,260,092.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 4,641 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.42, for a total transaction of $391,793.22. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,772 shares in the company, valued at $2,260,092.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 599 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.65, for a total transaction of $51,304.35. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,272,208.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Popular

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Popular during the fourth quarter worth approximately $66,881,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Popular by 21.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,599,881 shares of the bank’s stock worth $226,829,000 after buying an additional 642,694 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its position in shares of Popular by 395.0% during the fourth quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 429,197 shares of the bank’s stock worth $35,224,000 after buying an additional 342,492 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Popular by 64.9% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 726,743 shares of the bank’s stock worth $45,792,000 after buying an additional 286,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, rhino investment partners Inc grew its position in shares of Popular by 145.1% during the third quarter. rhino investment partners Inc now owns 478,004 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,119,000 after buying an additional 283,004 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Popular Company Profile

Popular, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides various retail, mortgage, and commercial banking products and services in Puerto Rico, the United States, and the British Virgin Islands. The company provides savings, NOW, money market, and other interest-bearing demand accounts; non-interest bearing demand deposits; and certificates of deposit.