Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) PT Raised to $105.00 at Barclays

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) had its price target lifted by Barclays from $99.00 to $105.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on BPOP. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Popular from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an outperform rating and set a $110.00 target price (up from $103.00) on shares of Popular in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Popular from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Popular from $96.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Popular from $103.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $99.89.

Popular Stock Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $86.58 on Thursday. Popular has a 52 week low of $52.32 and a 52 week high of $89.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.26 billion, a PE ratio of 12.85 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $84.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.26.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.89. Popular had a return on equity of 11.95% and a net margin of 11.95%. The firm had revenue of $702.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $699.76 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Popular will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Popular’s payout ratio is presently 36.80%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 4,641 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.42, for a total transaction of $391,793.22. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,260,092.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 4,641 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.42, for a total transaction of $391,793.22. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,260,092.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 599 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.65, for a total transaction of $51,304.35. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,272,208.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Popular

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Popular by 1.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,016,116 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $568,105,000 after purchasing an additional 171,391 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Popular by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,108,821 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $337,213,000 after purchasing an additional 19,849 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Popular by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,816,736 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $313,240,000 after purchasing an additional 216,855 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Popular in the fourth quarter worth $66,881,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Popular by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 733,072 shares of the bank’s stock worth $60,163,000 after acquiring an additional 21,386 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

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.