UBS Group Lowers Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) to Neutral

UBS Group downgraded shares of Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP – Get Rating) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $57.00 target price on the bank’s stock, down from their previous target price of $100.00.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on BPOP. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Popular from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Popular from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Popular from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Popular from $80.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Popular from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Popular has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $72.20.

Popular Stock Performance

BPOP opened at $50.85 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $67.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.79. The company has a market cap of $3.65 billion, a PE ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.85. Popular has a 1 year low of $49.34 and a 1 year high of $86.84.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The bank reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.81. The firm had revenue of $559.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.82 million. Popular had a net margin of 32.75% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The company’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.58 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Popular will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 17th. Popular’s payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Popular

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Popular by 11.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,880,331 shares of the bank’s stock worth $567,856,000 after purchasing an additional 816,384 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Popular by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,053,894 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $268,850,000 after buying an additional 139,262 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Popular by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,595,668 shares of the bank’s stock worth $238,465,000 after acquiring an additional 276,760 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Popular by 11.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,478,197 shares of the bank’s stock worth $179,787,000 after acquiring an additional 262,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Popular by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,280,285 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $151,229,000 after acquiring an additional 63,363 shares during the period. 86.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Popular Company Profile

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Popular, Inc operates as a holding company. The firm engages in the provision of banking and financial services. It operates through the following segments: Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, Popular U.S., and Corporate Group. The Banco Popular de Puerto Rico segment includes commercial banking, consumer and retail banking, and other financial services.