Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Increases Dividend to $0.70 Per Share

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, November 18th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of 0.70 per share by the bank on Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This is a positive change from Popular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62.

Popular has increased its dividend by an average of 12.4% per year over the last three years. Popular has a payout ratio of 25.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Popular to earn $10.48 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.7%.

Popular Stock Performance

NASDAQ BPOP traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $95.85. 496,852 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 424,941. The company has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.79. Popular has a 1 year low of $71.08 and a 1 year high of $105.01. The business’s 50 day moving average is $96.52 and its 200-day moving average is $94.10.

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 company had revenue of $736.56 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $766.62 million. Popular had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 11.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Popular will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BPOP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Popular from $105.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price objective (up from $110.00) on shares of Popular in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Hovde Group raised their price objective on shares of Popular from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Popular from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.88.

Insider Activity

In other Popular news, EVP Beatriz Castellvi sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.16, for a total value of $347,060.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,490,403.40. This trade represents a 12.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.71, for a total transaction of $178,320.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,332 shares in the company, valued at $325,569.72. The trade was a 35.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,242 shares of company stock valued at $1,102,880 in the last 90 days. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.