Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Benchmark upgraded the stock to a strong-buy rating. The stock traded as high as $173.66 and last traded at $172.6640, with a volume of 9961 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.01.

BPOP has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Popular from $141.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on Popular from $178.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Popular from $173.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Popular from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Popular from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $177.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

In other Popular news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 23,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $3,450,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 34,588 shares in the company, valued at $5,188,200. The trade was a 39.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total transaction of $920,762.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,255 shares in the company, valued at $1,671,480.05. This represents a 35.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 29,500 shares of company stock worth $4,415,870 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

More Popular News

Here are the key news stories impacting Popular this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Benchmark Co. upgraded Popular to “strong-buy”, which typically signals improved confidence in the bank’s outlook and can attract additional investors. Zacks.com
• Neutral Sentiment: Popular is also drawing attention because it is expected to report earnings on Thursday, keeping investors focused on whether recent operating trends can support the stock’s recent strength. Popular (BPOP) Expected to Post Earnings on Thursday
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s last quarterly report beat EPS estimates, which may be helping sentiment, but revenue came in below consensus, leaving some uncertainty heading into the new report.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Popular

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Popular in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Popular in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Popular by 70.8% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 246 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in shares of Popular in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Popular during the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Popular Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $157.22 and its 200-day moving average is $143.89. The firm has a market cap of $11.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.61.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.30 by $0.48. Popular had a net margin of 20.10% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The firm had revenue of $816.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.54 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.56 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Popular, Inc. will post 15.05 EPS for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is 22.16%.

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.