Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) Earns Overweight Rating from Piper Sandler

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by research analysts at Piper Sandler in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $152.00 target price on the bank’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 17.98% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on BPOP. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Popular in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Popular in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Popular from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Popular in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $153.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Popular from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.00.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of BPOP opened at $128.84 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $120.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.50. Popular has a one year low of $78.23 and a one year high of $131.10. The company has a market cap of $8.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.63.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The bank reported $3.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.10. Popular had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 17.63%.The firm had revenue of $720.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $803.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.16 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Popular will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

In other Popular news, Director Richard L. Carrion sold 25,000 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.50, for a total transaction of $2,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 193,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,907,770. The trade was a 11.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.84, for a total value of $114,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 2,604 shares in the company, valued at $299,043.36. This trade represents a 27.75% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Popular

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BPOP. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Popular by 56.2% during 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 period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Popular in the 2nd quarter valued at $93,578,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Popular by 2,752.6% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,684,000 after buying an additional 301,494 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Popular by 18.9% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,779,309 shares of the bank’s stock worth $225,990,000 after buying an additional 283,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Popular by 9,769.4% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 268,448 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,586,000 after buying an additional 265,728 shares during the period. 87.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.