Truist Financial Initiates Coverage on Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Analysts at Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $153.00 price target on the bank’s stock. Truist Financial’s target price suggests a potential upside of 30.07% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on BPOP. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Popular from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Zacks Research cut shares of Popular from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Popular in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Popular in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Popular from $125.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.67.

Popular Trading Down 5.7%

Shares of NASDAQ BPOP opened at $117.63 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $122.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $109.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.40, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.68. Popular has a one year low of $78.23 and a one year high of $129.32.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $3.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.60 by $0.49. The business had revenue of $800.03 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $777.38 million. Popular had a return on equity of 12.48% and a net margin of 16.49%.During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Popular will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Popular

In other news, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 18,001 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.47, for a total value of $2,240,584.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 24,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,083,495.31. The trade was a 42.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BPOP. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Popular in the first quarter valued at about $496,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Popular by 107.9% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 49,208 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,545,000 after buying an additional 25,534 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Popular in the first quarter valued at about $5,119,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 105.1% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,256 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,132,000 after purchasing an additional 6,281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 7.5% in the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 20,725 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439 shares in the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.