Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Piper Sandler Analyst Says

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) had its price target increased by Piper Sandler from $110.00 to $123.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the bank’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Hovde Group dropped their price target on shares of Popular from $118.00 to $114.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (up from $115.00) on shares of Popular in a report on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Popular from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Popular from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $110.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.43.

Popular Price Performance

BPOP opened at $104.79 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.56. Popular has a one year low of $78.23 and a one year high of $106.81.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $755.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $760.45 million. Popular had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 14.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Popular will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 29th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 29th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.90%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Popular

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BPOP. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 56.6% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 603 shares of the bank’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Popular by 1,719.6% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 37,775 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,553,000 after purchasing an additional 35,699 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Popular by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,362,875 shares of the bank’s stock worth $128,192,000 after buying an additional 39,999 shares during the period. Harbor Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Popular by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 13,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,223,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in shares of Popular by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 24,037 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,261,000 after buying an additional 4,550 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

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.