Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $155.7273.

BPOP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Hovde Group upped their price target on shares of Popular from $153.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Popular from $153.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Popular from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Popular in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Popular from $144.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th.

Popular Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ BPOP opened at $142.84 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.52 billion, a PE ratio of 11.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.63. Popular has a 1-year low of $78.23 and a 1-year high of $145.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $125.77 and a 200-day moving average of $121.37.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The bank reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $815.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $811.55 million. Popular had a return on equity of 13.87% and a net margin of 18.75%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.51 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Popular will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Popular’s payout ratio is 24.35%.

Key Stories Impacting Popular

Here are the key news stories impacting Popular this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded BPOP to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and highlighted the bank across its value, income and new-strong-buy lists — a coordinated upgrade that can attract momentum, buy-side attention and inflows. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst targets and a “fair value” reset have shifted the narrative on BPOP, reinforcing the bull case and likely supporting multiple expansion after the company’s recent earnings beat and raised forward expectations. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage pieces note BPOP has hit a 52-week high and examine whether the run can continue; useful stock‑momentum context but not new fundamental news. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider filing: Alejandro Ballester sold 2,360 shares. Size is modest relative to market cap and recent volume, so this is more housekeeping than a clear negative signal. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Separate headline risk: an unrelated ice-cream chain named “Popular” filed Chapter 11 — could create short-term search/headline confusion but does not reflect Popular, Inc.’s fundamentals. Market impact from this is likely minimal but may cause noise. Read More.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

In other Popular news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 2,360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.50, for a total value of $312,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 57,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,611,992.50. This represents a 3.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,000 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.84, for a total transaction of $114,840.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 2,604 shares in the company, valued at $299,043.36. The trade was a 27.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 28,360 shares of company stock valued at $3,265,040. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BPOP. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Popular by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,489,936 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,057,167,000 after purchasing an additional 37,424 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Popular by 56.2% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $376,314,000 after buying an additional 1,065,452 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of 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. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Popular by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,901 shares of the bank’s stock worth $147,471,000 after acquiring an additional 7,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Popular by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 1,082,018 shares of the bank’s stock worth $119,249,000 after acquiring an additional 132,826 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

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.