Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Receives $133.56 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $133.5556.

A number of research firms recently commented on BPOP. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Popular from $135.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Popular in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Popular in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Popular from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Hovde Group reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Popular in a research report on Friday, August 29th.

Insider Transactions at Popular

In related news, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 18,001 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.84, for a total transaction of $114,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 2,604 shares in the company, valued at $299,043.36. This represents a 27.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 44,001 shares of company stock valued at $5,192,924 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BPOP. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Popular by 47.3% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 188,960 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,818,000 after purchasing an additional 60,701 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in Popular during the second quarter worth $905,000. HB Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Popular in the second quarter valued at $224,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Popular by 33.4% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $162,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ibex Wealth Advisors acquired a new stake in Popular in the 2nd quarter valued at $532,000. 87.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Popular Price Performance

Popular stock opened at $114.75 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $118.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.03. Popular has a fifty-two week low of $78.23 and a fifty-two week high of $129.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.15, a PEG ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.72.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The bank reported $3.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $720.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $803.95 million. Popular had a net margin of 17.63% and a return on equity of 13.46%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Popular will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is 26.55%.

Popular Company Profile

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.