Popular, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.70 (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.70 per share by the bank on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th.

Popular has increased its dividend by an average of 13.5% per year over the last three years. Popular has a payout ratio of 23.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Popular to earn $11.73 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.9%.

Popular Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $100.41 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $99.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.93. Popular has a 12 month low of $80.60 and a 12 month high of $106.81. The firm has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.82.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $2.51 EPS 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Popular will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Eduardo J. Negron sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.02, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $984,672.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 39,170 shares in the company, valued at $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. 2.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Popular from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Popular from $116.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Popular from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Popular from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Popular presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.25.

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.