Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Sells 695 Shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 20.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,684 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 695 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Popular were worth $252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its position in Popular by 56.7% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 326 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Popular by 56.6% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 603 shares of the bank’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Popular in the third quarter worth $81,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Popular in the fourth quarter valued at $166,000. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Popular during the fourth quarter valued at about $202,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Popular

In related news, EVP Eduardo J. Negron sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.02, for a total transaction of $1,040,200.00. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $984,672.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 39,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,017,666.90. This trade represents a 19.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BPOP shares. UBS Group initiated coverage on Popular in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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 upped their price objective on shares of Popular from $116.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Popular from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Popular from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.00.

Popular Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of BPOP opened at $81.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.24. Popular, Inc. has a twelve month low of $78.23 and a twelve month high of $106.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.54, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.62.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.47. Popular had a net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 11.89%. Sell-side analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.71%.

Popular 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.