Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Receives $128.88 Average PT from Brokerages

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $128.8750.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BPOP. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Popular in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Popular from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Popular from $125.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Popular from $110.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Popular from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 18,001 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.47, for a total transaction of $2,240,584.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 24,773 shares in the company, valued at $3,083,495.31. This trade represents a 42.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Popular

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BPOP. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Popular in the second quarter worth $93,578,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Popular by 52.8% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,432,599 shares of the bank’s stock worth $129,722,000 after purchasing an additional 495,325 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Popular by 9,769.4% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 268,448 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,586,000 after purchasing an additional 265,728 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Popular by 363.4% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 228,028 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,131,000 after purchasing an additional 178,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in Popular by 135.7% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 258,265 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,463,000 after purchasing an additional 148,682 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Popular Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ BPOP opened at $124.80 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $118.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.55. The company has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a PE ratio of 12.09, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.68. Popular has a 52-week low of $78.23 and a 52-week high of $128.66.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $3.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.60 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $800.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $777.38 million. Popular had a net margin of 16.49% and a return on equity of 12.48%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Popular will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a sep 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.1328 per share. Popular’s payout ratio is currently 27.13%.

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.