Short Interest in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Drops By 27.3%

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 1,176,727 shares, a decline of 27.3% from the February 12th total of 1,619,077 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 500,721 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 500,721 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 1,451 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.85, for a total transaction of $204,373.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $481,002.75. This represents a 29.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 2,360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.50, for a total transaction of $312,700.00. Following the sale, the director owned 57,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,611,992.50. The trade was a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Popular

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BPOP. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Popular by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,489,936 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,057,167,000 after purchasing an additional 37,424 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Popular by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,361,681 shares of the bank’s stock worth $543,117,000 after purchasing an additional 58,452 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Popular by 56.2% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $376,314,000 after buying an additional 1,065,452 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Popular by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,779,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $225,990,000 after buying an additional 283,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Popular by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,405,575 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $175,057,000 after buying an additional 64,778 shares in the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BPOP. Zacks Research raised shares of Popular from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Popular from $161.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Popular from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Hovde Group boosted their target price on shares of Popular from $153.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Popular in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Popular has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $156.55.

Popular Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BPOP traded down $0.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $130.38. The company had a trading volume of 567,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 534,975. The company has a market capitalization of $8.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $134.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $125.48. Popular has a 12-month low of $78.23 and a 12-month high of $149.31.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 27th. The bank reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.36. Popular had a net margin of 18.75% and a return on equity of 13.70%. The firm had revenue of $806.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $811.55 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.51 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Popular will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 18th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is 24.35%.

Popular Company 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.