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

Key Points

• Analysts remain bullish on Popular: Thirteen brokerages give the stock a consensus “Buy” rating, with an average 12-month price target of approximately $184.42. Recent targets from Truist and Piper Sandler were raised to $197 and $198, respectively.
• Quarterly earnings beat expectations: Popular reported earnings of $4.35 per share, exceeding the $3.72 consensus and increasing from $3.09 a year earlier. However, revenue of $846.9 million was below the $878.4 million estimate.
• Shares show strong momentum and shareholder returns: BPOP opened at $175.13, near its 52-week high of $176.51, while institutional investors own 87.27% of the stock. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share, yielding about 1.7% annually.

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Buy" from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $184.4167.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BPOP shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Popular from $192.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $198.00 target price (up from $190.00) on shares of Popular in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Popular from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Popular from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Popular from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total transaction of $45,108.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,960 shares in the company, valued at $595,425.60. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Popular

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BPOP. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,065,452 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Popular in the 4th quarter worth about $104,955,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Popular by 85.2% in the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 680,282 shares of the bank's stock worth $84,709,000 after purchasing an additional 312,984 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Popular by 2,752.6% in the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank's stock worth $39,684,000 after purchasing an additional 301,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension acquired a new stake in shares of Popular in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,841,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company's stock.

Popular Stock Performance

Shares of Popular stock opened at $175.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.30 billion, a PE ratio of 11.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.61. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $162.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $147.42. Popular has a 1 year low of $108.74 and a 1 year high of $176.51.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $4.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.72 by $0.63. Popular had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 21.37%.The business had revenue of $846.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $878.41 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.09 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Popular will post 15.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Popular's payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Key Popular News

Here are the key news stories impacting Popular this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Favorable momentum profile: Zacks identifies BPOP as a top-ranked momentum stock, highlighting its recent price strength and potential for continued market outperformance. Popular BPOP is a Top-Ranked Momentum Stock: Should You Buy?
• Positive Sentiment: Value appeal: A separate Zacks analysis classifies Popular as a strong value stock, which may attract investors given its relatively low valuation, including a price-to-earnings ratio of approximately 11.8 and a PEG ratio below 1. Here's Why Popular BPOP is a Strong Value Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings beat: Popular reported quarterly earnings of $4.35 per share, well above the $3.72 analyst consensus and up from $3.09 a year earlier. Its 15.47% return on equity and 21.37% net margin also indicate solid profitability.
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed quarterly revenue: Revenue of $846.9 million fell short of the $878.4 million consensus estimate, limiting the strength of the earnings-related catalyst. Analysts nevertheless expect approximately $15.72 in full-year earnings per share.
• Neutral Sentiment: Limited company-specific news: The other articles in the supplied news flow concern unrelated companies, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, or general-interest topics and do not appear to affect BPOP directly.

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.

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