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

Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $105.00 target price on the bank’s stock, down from their previous target price of $115.00.

BPOP has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Popular from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Popular in a research report on Monday, August 26th. They set an overweight rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Hovde Group upped their price objective on shares of Popular from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Popular from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an outperform rating and issued a $120.00 target price (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Popular in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Popular currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $105.11.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of BPOP stock opened at $95.40 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $98.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $91.65. Popular has a 12 month low of $59.27 and a 12 month high of $105.01. The company has a market capitalization of $6.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.78.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $751.57 million. Popular had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 12.20%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Popular will post 8.86 EPS for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.80%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 5,917 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was 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 directly owns 29,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,920,387.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Popular in the 2nd quarter valued at $569,000. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in Popular by 18.0% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,406 shares of the bank’s stock worth $655,000 after buying an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC boosted its position in shares of Popular by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 88,379 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,815,000 after acquiring an additional 8,317 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 171,016 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,023 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Popular by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 546,981 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,370,000 after acquiring an additional 11,843 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.