Wells Fargo & Company Downgrades Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) to Equal Weight

Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $105.00 price objective on the bank’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $115.00.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Popular from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $120.00 target price (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Popular in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Hovde Group upped their price target on Popular from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Popular from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Popular in a research report on Monday, August 26th. They set an overweight rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $105.11.

Popular Stock Performance

BPOP stock opened at $97.26 on Tuesday. Popular has a one year low of $59.27 and a one year high of $105.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.43, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $98.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.89.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $751.57 million. Popular had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 12.20%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Popular will post 8.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Popular’s payout ratio is 36.80%.

Insider Activity at Popular

In other Popular news, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 5,917 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.60, for a total transaction of $577,499.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,920,387.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Popular

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Popular by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 294,295 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,924,000 after buying an additional 10,308 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Popular by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 282,639 shares of the bank’s stock worth $24,898,000 after purchasing an additional 6,067 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Popular in the 4th quarter worth approximately $809,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Popular by 249.1% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 32,845 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,904,000 after purchasing an additional 23,436 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its stake in Popular by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 708,385 shares of the bank’s stock worth $62,402,000 after buying an additional 9,985 shares during the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.