StockNews.com Upgrades Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) to “Buy”

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. UBS Group initiated coverage on Popular in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Popular from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $110.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Popular from $116.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Popular from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.57.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $82.19 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.82. The company has a market cap of $5.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.60, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.62. Popular has a one year low of $78.23 and a one year high of $106.81.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.47. Popular had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 14.15%. As a group, analysts expect that Popular will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Popular

In other news, EVP Eduardo J. Negron sold 10,000 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.02, for a total value of $1,040,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,866 shares in the company, valued at $3,418,721.32. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $984,672.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,170 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,017,666.90. This represents a 19.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Popular

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Perkins Coie Trust Co grew its stake in Popular by 6.7% in the first quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 3,200 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Popular in the 1st quarter worth $710,000. NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in Popular by 132,933.3% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 3,991 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 3,988 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments increased its stake in Popular by 27.3% during the 1st quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 18,223 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,683,000 after purchasing an additional 3,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Popular by 589.9% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 821 shares of the bank’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 702 shares during the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.