Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $176.51 and last traded at $173.6750, with a volume of 6859 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $172.22.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on BPOP. Barclays upped their target price on Popular from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research lowered Popular from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of Popular from $201.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Popular from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $198.00 price objective (up from $190.00) on shares of Popular in a research report on Friday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $184.42.

Popular Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $11.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.71, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day moving average of $162.42 and a 200 day moving average of $147.08.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $4.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.72 by $0.63. Popular had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 21.37%.The company had revenue of $846.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $878.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.09 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total value of $920,762.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,671,480.05. The trade was a 35.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total transaction of $45,108.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $595,425.60. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 2.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Popular

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Popular by 56.2% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank’s stock worth $376,314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,452 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Popular in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $104,955,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Popular by 85.2% in the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 680,282 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $84,709,000 after purchasing an additional 312,984 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 301,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension acquired a new stake in Popular during the fourth quarter worth approximately $24,841,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

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.