Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Given Consensus Rating of "Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) has a consensus analyst rating of “Buy”, with 10 buy ratings, 1 strong buy, and 1 hold. The average 1-year price target from covering brokers is about $168.73.
• The company reported strong quarterly earnings, posting $3.78 EPS versus the $3.30 estimate, though revenue came in below expectations at $816.08 million. Analysts now expect Popular to earn $15.14 per share for the full year.
• Popular also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share, payable July 1, which works out to an annualized dividend of $3.00 and a 2.1% yield. Meanwhile, insiders recently sold shares, and institutional investors continue to own the vast majority of the stock.

Shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research 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 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $168.7273.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BPOP shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Popular from $135.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Popular from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research lowered Popular from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Popular from $155.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Hovde Group lifted their price target on Popular from $153.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 23,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $3,450,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 34,588 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,188,200. The trade was a 39.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total value of $920,762.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,255 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,671,480.05. This trade represents a 35.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 30,651 shares of company stock valued at $4,575,135. Insiders own 2.13% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Popular

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Popular by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,489,936 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,057,167,000 after acquiring an additional 37,424 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Popular by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,361,681 shares of the bank's stock valued at $543,117,000 after acquiring an additional 58,452 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Popular by 56.2% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank's stock valued at $376,314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,452 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Popular by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,779,309 shares of the bank's stock valued at $225,990,000 after acquiring an additional 283,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Popular by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,405,575 shares of the bank's stock valued at $175,057,000 after acquiring an additional 64,778 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company's stock.

Popular Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $144.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.63. Popular has a 52-week low of $100.54 and a 52-week high of $152.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $140.21 and a 200 day moving average of $130.94.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.30 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $816.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.54 million. Popular had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 20.10%.During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Popular will post 15.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. Popular's 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.

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