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

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $106.22.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Hovde Group raised their target price on shares of Popular from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Popular in a research report on Monday, August 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Popular from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 target price (up from $110.00) on shares of Popular in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Popular from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday.

Popular Price Performance

Popular stock opened at $98.58 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $7.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $98.84 and a 200-day moving average of $91.42. Popular has a one year low of $59.27 and a one year high of $105.01.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $751.57 million. Popular had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 12.20%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Popular will post 8.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.80%.

Insider Transactions at Popular

In other Popular news, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 5,917 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.60, for a total value of $577,499.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,920,387.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Popular

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BPOP. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 6.0% during the fourth 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. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Popular by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,218,828 shares of the bank’s stock worth $107,781,000 after acquiring an additional 113,838 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Popular by 57.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,008,732 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $88,859,000 after acquiring an additional 366,870 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Popular by 23.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 859,794 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $75,129,000 after acquiring an additional 164,270 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Popular by 52.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 835,311 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,867,000 after acquiring an additional 286,450 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.