Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $99.89.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BPOP shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Popular from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Popular from $96.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Popular from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Popular from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Popular from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th.

Popular Stock Performance

Shares of Popular stock opened at $86.58 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.05. The company has a market cap of $6.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.85 and a beta of 0.82. Popular has a fifty-two week low of $52.32 and a fifty-two week high of $89.70.

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

Popular Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Popular

In related news, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 599 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.65, for a total transaction of $51,304.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,272,208.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 599 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.65, for a total value of $51,304.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,272,208.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 4,641 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,260,092.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Popular

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Popular by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,016,116 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $568,105,000 after buying an additional 171,391 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Popular by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,108,821 shares of the bank’s stock worth $337,213,000 after purchasing an additional 19,849 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Popular by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,816,736 shares of the bank’s stock worth $313,240,000 after purchasing an additional 216,855 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Popular during the 4th quarter worth approximately $66,881,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Popular by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 733,072 shares of the bank’s stock worth $60,163,000 after purchasing an additional 21,386 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

About Popular

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.