Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) Price Target to $98.00

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) had its price target trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $105.00 to $98.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the bank’s stock.

BPOP has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective 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 upped their target price 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 decreased their price target on Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price objective (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Popular in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Popular from $117.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Popular currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $104.88.

Popular Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $88.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $6.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.78. Popular has a one year low of $61.99 and a one year high of $105.01. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $98.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.10.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $736.56 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $766.62 million. Popular had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 12.20%. Popular’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Popular will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 5,917 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.60, for a total value of $577,499.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,922 shares in the company, valued at $2,920,387.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Popular

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Popular by 661.3% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 10,795 shares of the bank’s stock worth $951,000 after purchasing an additional 9,377 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Popular by 36.5% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 28,134 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,478,000 after buying an additional 7,525 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Popular by 53.8% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 9,360 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $825,000 after buying an additional 3,275 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Popular by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,040 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Popular by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 708,385 shares of the bank’s stock worth $62,402,000 after buying an additional 9,985 shares in the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.