Popular, Inc. $BPOP Stake Cut by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP cut its position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 108,932 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 10,000 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Popular were worth $13,564,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Popular by 140.1% in the third quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 45,170 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,737,000 after buying an additional 26,354 shares during the last quarter. Ceeto Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in Popular in the third quarter valued at $29,115,000. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in Popular by 68.6% in the third quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 17,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,198,000 after buying an additional 7,043 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Popular by 112.1% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 44,616 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,620,000 after buying an additional 23,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in Popular by 13.4% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 77,807 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,882,000 after buying an additional 9,180 shares during the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BPOP shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Popular from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Truist Financial raised their target price 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 raised their target price on Popular from $153.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Popular from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Popular from $170.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 23,000 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $3,450,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 34,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,188,200. The trade was a 39.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total value of $45,108.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,960 shares in the company, valued at $595,425.60. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 29,500 shares of company stock valued at $4,415,870 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Popular Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ BPOP opened at $150.63 on Thursday. Popular, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $102.00 and a fifty-two week high of $152.97. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $143.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $133.20. The stock has a market cap of $9.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.63.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $816.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.54 million. Popular had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 20.10%.During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 15.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

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

Popular Profile

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.