Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday morning.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Popular from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $110.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Popular from $116.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.14.

Popular Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $95.94 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $91.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.27. The company has a market cap of $6.65 billion, a PE ratio of 11.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.62. Popular has a fifty-two week low of $78.23 and a fifty-two week high of $106.81.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.30. Popular had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 14.15%. The company had revenue of $755.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $760.45 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Popular will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.90%.

Insider Activity at Popular

In other news, EVP Eduardo J. Negron sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.02, for a total transaction of $1,040,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,418,721.32. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $984,672.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,170 shares in the company, valued at $4,017,666.90. This represents a 19.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BPOP. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Popular in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $444,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Popular by 2.3% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 31,401 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Popular by 4.7% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Popular by 50.0% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 14,449 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,335,000 after buying an additional 4,818 shares during the period. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in Popular by 7.5% during the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 20,725 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,914,000 after buying an additional 1,439 shares during the period. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.