Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) Price Target Raised to $129.00

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) had its price target boosted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $116.00 to $129.00 in a research note published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the bank’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on BPOP. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Popular in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on Popular from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Popular from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Popular from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.25.

Popular Stock Performance

Shares of Popular stock opened at $102.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.34 billion, a PE ratio of 12.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $97.48. Popular has a 52-week low of $80.60 and a 52-week high of $106.46.

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

Popular Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is an increase from Popular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.71, for a total transaction of $178,320.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,332 shares in the company, valued at $325,569.72. The trade was a 35.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Eduardo J. Negron sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.02, for a total value of $1,040,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 32,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,418,721.32. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,325 shares of company stock valued at $1,565,581 over the last ninety days. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Popular

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BPOP. State Street Corp raised its stake in Popular by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,056,377 shares of the bank’s stock worth $207,475,000 after purchasing an additional 10,599 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 7.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,054,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $105,769,000 after purchasing an additional 71,782 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Popular by 8.1% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 902,931 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $90,537,000 after buying an additional 67,620 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Popular by 3.7% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 629,537 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $63,124,000 after buying an additional 22,355 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Popular by 18.3% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 548,057 shares of the bank’s stock worth $54,954,000 after buying an additional 84,839 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

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.