LSV Asset Management Increases Stock Holdings in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,043,733 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 88,765 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Management’s holdings in Popular were worth $129,966,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BPOP. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Popular by 56.2% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank’s stock worth $376,314,000 after buying an additional 1,065,452 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Popular by 2,752.6% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,684,000 after buying an additional 301,494 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Popular by 12,382.7% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 258,517 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,191,000 after buying an additional 256,446 shares during the last quarter. Ceeto Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in Popular during the 3rd quarter worth $29,115,000. Finally, Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension purchased a new position in Popular during the 4th quarter worth $24,841,000. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BPOP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Popular from $135.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Popular from $153.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Hovde Group boosted their price target on Popular from $153.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Popular from $141.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Popular from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Popular presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.73.

Popular Stock Performance

Popular stock opened at $150.50 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $141.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $132.24. The company has a market cap of $9.71 billion, a PE ratio of 11.12, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.63. Popular, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.54 and a fifty-two week high of $152.95.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.30 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $816.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.54 million. Popular had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 20.10%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.56 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Popular, Inc. will post 15.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. Popular’s payout ratio is 22.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 1,451 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.85, for a total value of $204,373.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $481,002.75. The trade was a 29.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the business’s 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 directly owned 11,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,671,480.05. This trade represents a 35.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 30,651 shares of company stock valued at $4,575,135 in the last quarter. 2.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Popular

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.