Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) Posts Earnings Results

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The bank reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.47, Zacks reports. Popular had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 11.35%.

Popular Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of BPOP stock opened at $103.72 on Thursday. Popular has a 1-year low of $80.60 and a 1-year high of $106.46. The company has a market capitalization of $7.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.35.

Popular Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is an increase from Popular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Popular’s payout ratio is currently 32.71%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,825 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.71, for a total value of $178,320.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $325,569.72. The trade was a 35.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Beatriz Castellvi sold 3,500 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.16, for a total transaction of $347,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,490,403.40. The trade was a 12.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Popular from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Popular from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Popular from $116.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Popular from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.63.

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.