Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $104.88.

BPOP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays dropped their target price on Popular from $117.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Popular from $105.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 target price (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Popular in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Hovde Group boosted their price target on shares of Popular from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Popular from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday.

Insider Transactions at Popular

In related news, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 5,917 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.60, for a total transaction of $577,499.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,920,387.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Popular by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,218,828 shares of the bank’s stock worth $107,781,000 after purchasing an additional 113,838 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Popular by 57.2% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,008,732 shares of the bank’s stock worth $88,859,000 after buying an additional 366,870 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Popular by 23.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 859,794 shares of the bank’s stock worth $75,129,000 after buying an additional 164,270 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Popular by 52.2% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 835,311 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,867,000 after buying an additional 286,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Popular by 2.1% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 713,923 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $62,889,000 after acquiring an additional 14,810 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Popular Price Performance

BPOP stock opened at $88.46 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.06. The stock has a market cap of $6.39 billion, a PE ratio of 13.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.78. Popular has a one year low of $61.99 and a one year high of $105.01.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.17). Popular had a net margin of 12.20% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The firm had revenue of $736.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $766.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Popular will post 8.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.80%.

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.