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

Key Points

• Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) hit a new 52-week high after Benchmark upgraded the stock to strong-buy, with shares trading as high as $173.66. The stock has also drawn a generally positive analyst consensus, with an average target price of $177.83.
• Several other Wall Street firms recently raised price targets or maintained bullish ratings, including Truist, Barclays, and Wells Fargo. Overall, analysts currently rate the stock a Buy on average.
• Investors are now watching the bank’s upcoming earnings report, especially after its last quarter beat EPS expectations but missed revenue estimates. Insider selling and strong institutional ownership have also been notable themes around the stock.

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

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on BPOP. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Popular from $172.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Popular from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Popular from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Popular from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Popular from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $177.83.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total value of $45,108.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $595,425.60. This trade represents a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total transaction of $920,762.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 11,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,671,480.05. The trade was a 35.52% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,500 shares of company stock valued at $4,415,870. 2.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Popular News Roundup

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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Popular by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,489,936 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,057,167,000 after buying an additional 37,424 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 worth $376,314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,452 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 worth $175,057,000 after acquiring an additional 64,778 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Popular by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,043,733 shares of the bank's stock worth $129,966,000 after purchasing an additional 88,765 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company's stock.

Popular Trading Up 1.1%

The company has a market cap of $11.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $157.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $143.89.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.30 by $0.48. The business 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $2.56 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 15.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given 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 was 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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