Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Shares Sold by Basswood Capital Management L.L.C.

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. cut its stake in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 39.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 150,377 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 97,103 shares during the quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. owned 0.21% of Popular worth $14,144,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Popular by 7.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,054,849 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $105,769,000 after acquiring an additional 71,782 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Popular by 56.6% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 603 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Popular by 1,719.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 37,775 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,553,000 after buying an additional 35,699 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Popular by 304.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 99,861 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,042,000 after acquiring an additional 75,164 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Popular by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,362,875 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $128,192,000 after acquiring an additional 39,999 shares during the period. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on BPOP. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (up previously from $115.00) on shares of Popular in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Popular from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Popular from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $110.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Hovde Group cut their price target on Popular from $118.00 to $114.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.14.

Popular Price Performance

Popular stock opened at $99.61 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.60. Popular, Inc. has a 12-month low of $78.23 and a 12-month high of $106.81. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $90.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.14.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.30. Popular had a net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The firm had revenue of $755.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $760.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.43 EPS. Popular’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.90%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of the company’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,017,666.90. This represents a 19.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

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.