Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) has earned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $168.7273.

BPOP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Popular from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Credit Suisse Group set a $156.00 price target on Popular in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Popular from $141.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Popular from $153.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Popular from $156.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th.

Popular Trading Up 0.7%

Popular stock opened at $150.50 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.12, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $132.24. Popular has a 12 month low of $100.54 and a 12 month high of $152.95.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $816.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.54 million. Popular had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 20.10%.During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.56 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Popular will post 15.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.16%.

Insider Transactions at Popular

In other news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 23,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $3,450,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 34,588 shares in the company, valued at $5,188,200. This trade represents a 39.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total value of $920,762.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 11,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,671,480.05. This trade represents a 35.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 30,651 shares of company stock worth $4,575,135 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Popular

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Popular by 8.2% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 465,720 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $62,486,000 after purchasing an additional 35,226 shares in the last quarter. Bull Harbor Capital LLC purchased a new position in Popular during the first quarter valued at $389,000. Amundi lifted its position in Popular by 615.9% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 38,031 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,103,000 after purchasing an additional 32,719 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Popular by 20.3% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 79,921 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,723,000 after purchasing an additional 13,490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in Popular by 26.4% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 200,187 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,859,000 after purchasing an additional 41,833 shares in the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Popular

Popular, Inc, headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a financial holding company and a leading provider of banking services in the United States mainland and Puerto Rico. Through its primary subsidiaries—Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and Popular Bank—the company delivers comprehensive commercial and consumer banking solutions. It offers deposit products, lending facilities, cash management services and payment-processing solutions designed for individuals, small businesses and large corporations.

The company’s product suite encompasses checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial mortgage loans, business lines of credit and credit cards.