Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Bank of America upgraded Popular from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Popular from $135.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on Popular from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group raised Popular from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $142.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Popular in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $161.18.

Popular Stock Performance

Shares of Popular stock traded up $4.03 during trading on Monday, hitting $145.67. 130,707 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 558,365. The stock has a market cap of $9.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.81, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.59. Popular has a twelve month low of $79.63 and a twelve month high of $149.31. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $137.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $126.48.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The bank reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $806.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $811.55 million. Popular had a return on equity of 13.70% and a net margin of 18.75%.During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.51 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Popular will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Popular news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 2,360 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.50, for a total value of $312,700.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 57,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,611,992.50. The trade was a 3.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 1,451 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.85, for a total value of $204,373.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $481,002.75. This represents a 29.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 2.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Popular by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,489,936 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,057,167,000 after buying an additional 37,424 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Popular by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,361,681 shares of the bank’s stock worth $543,117,000 after buying an additional 58,452 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Popular by 56.2% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank’s stock worth $376,314,000 after buying an additional 1,065,452 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Popular by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,779,309 shares of the bank’s stock worth $225,990,000 after buying an additional 283,000 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Popular by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,405,575 shares of the bank’s stock worth $175,057,000 after buying an additional 64,778 shares during the period. 87.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Popular News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Popular this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its price target for BPOP to $180 and kept an “overweight” rating, implying material upside versus the current price and signaling stronger analyst conviction in Popular’s earnings outlook. Barclays raises price target to $180
• Positive Sentiment: UBS upgraded Popular from “hold” to “buy” and lifted its target to $160, which supports buying interest and likely contributed to intraday gains. UBS upgrades to buy, raises target to $160
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage and positive write-ups (e.g., Kalkine) highlighting the upgrade momentum and banking-sector focus have reinforced investor attention on BPOP. Popular upgrade sparks Nasdaq banking focus
• Neutral Sentiment: Popular announced U.S. leadership changes, naming Israel Velasco EVP and Head of U.S. Operations — a governance/operational move tied to a new strategic framework that may affect execution over the medium term but is not an immediate earnings surprise. Executive leadership changes announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/policy headlines (NYT piece on proposed federal budget cuts) are market-moving broadly but have an indirect and uncertain impact on Popular specifically; investors may watch consumer- and mortgage-related implications. NYT: To boost military budget, Trump targets programs at home
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research downgraded Popular from “strong-buy” to “hold,” which can reduce near-term buy-side conviction and cap upside despite other upgrades. Zacks downgrades Popular to hold
• Neutral Sentiment: A topical piece about customized gifts is unrelated to Popular’s fundamentals and is unlikely to move the stock. The Popularity of Customized Gifts

Popular Company Profile

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.