Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) Receives Outperform Rating from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $110.00 price objective on the bank’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $103.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 26.02% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on BPOP. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Popular from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Popular from $103.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Hovde Group boosted their price objective on shares of Popular from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Popular from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Popular from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.22.

Popular Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Popular stock traded down $0.59 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $87.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 131,550 shares, compared to its average volume of 448,477. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $84.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.77. The firm has a market cap of $6.31 billion, a PE ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 0.82. Popular has a fifty-two week low of $52.32 and a fifty-two week high of $89.70.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $702.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $699.76 million. Popular had a net margin of 13.86% and a return on equity of 12.63%. On average, analysts predict that Popular will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Popular news, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 4,641 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.42, for a total value of $391,793.22. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,260,092.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Popular news, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 599 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.65, for a total value of $51,304.35. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,272,208.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 4,641 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.42, for a total transaction of $391,793.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,772 shares in the company, valued at $2,260,092.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Popular by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,016,116 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $568,105,000 after acquiring an additional 171,391 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Popular by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,108,821 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $337,213,000 after acquiring an additional 19,849 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Popular by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,816,736 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $313,240,000 after acquiring an additional 216,855 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Popular during the 4th quarter valued at about $66,881,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Popular by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 733,072 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $60,163,000 after acquiring an additional 21,386 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.