Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on BPOP. Hovde Group reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Popular in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Truist Financial started coverage on Popular in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $153.00 price target for the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Popular from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Popular in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Popular in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $133.56.

Popular Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ BPOP opened at $116.55 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $7.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.72. Popular has a 52 week low of $78.23 and a 52 week high of $129.32. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $120.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $113.95.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The bank reported $3.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.10. Popular had a net margin of 17.63% and a return on equity of 13.46%. The firm had revenue of $817.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $803.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Popular will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Popular news, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 18,001 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.47, for a total transaction of $2,240,584.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 24,773 shares in the company, valued at $3,083,495.31. This represents a 42.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Popular

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Baron Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Popular by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,597 shares of the bank’s stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its stake in shares of Popular by 0.6% during the third quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 17,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,171,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Popular by 4.2% in the first quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,847 shares of the bank’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC grew its holdings in shares of Popular by 1.3% in the second quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 9,579 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,056,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenwich Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Popular by 0.5% in the second quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,267 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,115,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. 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.