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

by · The Markets Daily

Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP – Free Report) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $105.00 price target on the bank’s stock, down from their prior price target of $115.00.

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

View Our Latest Analysis on Popular

Popular Price Performance

NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $95.09 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.11, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50-day moving average is $98.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $91.79. Popular has a 1-year low of $59.27 and a 1-year high of $105.01.

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

Popular Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Popular’s payout ratio is currently 36.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Popular news, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 5,917 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.60, for a total transaction of $577,499.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,920,387.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BPOP. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Popular by 57.2% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,008,732 shares of the bank’s stock worth $88,859,000 after acquiring an additional 366,870 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Popular by 395.0% in the 4th quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 429,197 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $35,224,000 after buying an additional 342,492 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Popular by 52.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 835,311 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,867,000 after buying an additional 286,450 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Popular in the 1st quarter valued at $19,997,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Popular by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,816,736 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $313,240,000 after buying an additional 216,855 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Popular Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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