Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $159.95 and last traded at $156.15, with a volume of 541124 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $156.00.

Key Stories Impacting Popular

Here are the key news stories impacting Popular this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Popular (BPOP) as a strong momentum stock and a potential top pick for momentum investors, which can attract trader and quant-driven buying. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: A second Zacks piece reinforced that BPOP screens well on style and momentum metrics, which may be helping sustain investor interest in the shares. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: TipRanks reported that Popular, Inc. disclosed a third-party cybersecurity incident affecting customers, but the available details suggest the issue is tied to a vendor rather than an internal breach. Investors may be watching for any financial, legal, or reputational fallout. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent chatter about short interest showed no meaningful data change, so it does not appear to be a major price driver today.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on BPOP shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Popular from $155.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Popular from $141.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research downgraded Popular from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Popular from $135.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Popular from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Popular presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $168.73.

Popular Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.53, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $147.26 and a 200 day moving average of $135.84.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by $0.48. Popular had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 20.10%.The company had revenue of $816.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.54 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Popular, Inc. will post 15.14 EPS for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. Popular’s payout ratio is currently 22.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

In other Popular news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 23,000 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $3,450,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 34,588 shares in the company, valued at $5,188,200. The trade was a 39.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total value of $920,762.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 11,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,671,480.05. This represents a 35.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 29,500 shares of company stock worth $4,415,870 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Popular

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Popular by 56.2% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank’s stock worth $376,314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,452 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Popular in the fourth quarter worth approximately $104,955,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Popular by 85.2% in the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 680,282 shares of the bank’s stock worth $84,709,000 after acquiring an additional 312,984 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Popular by 2,752.6% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,684,000 after acquiring an additional 301,494 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Popular by 12,382.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 258,517 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,191,000 after acquiring an additional 256,446 shares during the period. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Popular Company Profile

Popular, Inc, headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a financial holding company and a leading provider of banking services in the United States mainland and Puerto Rico. Through its primary subsidiaries—Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and Popular Bank—the company delivers comprehensive commercial and consumer banking solutions. It offers deposit products, lending facilities, cash management services and payment-processing solutions designed for individuals, small businesses and large corporations.

The company’s product suite encompasses checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial mortgage loans, business lines of credit and credit cards.