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

Shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $112.25.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BPOP shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Popular in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of Popular from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Popular from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Eduardo J. Negron sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.02, for a total transaction of $1,040,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,866 shares in the company, valued at $3,418,721.32. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $984,672.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,170 shares in the company, valued at $4,017,666.90. This trade represents a 19.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BPOP. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Popular by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,286,832 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $873,519,000 after buying an additional 56,222 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Popular by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,192,769 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $394,373,000 after acquiring an additional 201,067 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Popular by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,056,377 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $207,475,000 after acquiring an additional 10,599 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Popular by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,908,406 shares of the bank’s stock worth $179,505,000 after purchasing an additional 25,222 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Popular by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,418,729 shares of the bank’s stock worth $133,446,000 after purchasing an additional 515,798 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Popular Price Performance

NASDAQ BPOP opened at $103.96 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.73. Popular has a 1 year low of $80.60 and a 1 year high of $106.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.41 billion, a PE ratio of 12.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.82.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.47. Popular had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 14.15%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Popular will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

Popular Company Profile

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.