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

Shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the twelve analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $168.7273.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BPOP. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Popular from $135.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Popular from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research downgraded Popular from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Popular from $155.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Popular from $156.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Popular news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 23,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $3,450,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 34,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,188,200. This represents a 39.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 1,451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.85, for a total value of $204,373.35. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,415 shares in the company, valued at $481,002.75. This trade represents a 29.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,651 shares of company stock worth $4,575,135. Company insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BPOP. Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Popular during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC purchased a new position in shares of Popular during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Popular by 70.8% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 246 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in shares of Popular during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Popular during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $144.04 on Friday. Popular has a 1 year low of $100.54 and a 1 year high of $152.95. The company has a market cap of $9.30 billion, a PE ratio of 10.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $140.21 and its 200 day moving average is $130.94.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by $0.48. Popular had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 20.10%.The company had revenue of $816.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.54 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.56 EPS. Analysts expect that Popular will post 15.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is 22.16%.

About Popular

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.