Short Interest in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Expands By 27.7%

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) was the target of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,030,000 shares, a growth of 27.7% from the February 13th total of 806,300 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 504,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Popular Stock Performance

Shares of Popular stock opened at $90.44 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $98.77 and a 200 day moving average of $97.41. Popular has a fifty-two week low of $80.60 and a fifty-two week high of $106.81.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released 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 net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 11.89%. Analysts forecast that Popular will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BPOP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Popular from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Popular from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group began coverage on Popular in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Popular from $116.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

In other Popular news, EVP Eduardo J. Negron sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,418,721.32. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Popular by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,286,832 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $873,519,000 after purchasing an additional 56,222 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Popular by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,192,769 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $394,373,000 after acquiring an additional 201,067 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Popular by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,056,377 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $207,475,000 after acquiring an additional 10,599 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Popular by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,908,406 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $179,505,000 after acquiring an additional 25,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Popular by 57.1% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,418,729 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $133,446,000 after acquiring an additional 515,798 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% 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.