Earnest Partners LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Earnest Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 2.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 707,321 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 15,426 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC’s holdings in Popular were worth $89,837,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Savant Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Popular by 68.6% during the third quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 17,309 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,198,000 after buying an additional 7,043 shares in the last quarter. Ethic Inc. acquired a new stake in Popular in the third quarter valued at $653,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 9,180 shares in the last quarter. Fieldview Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Popular by 67.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fieldview Capital Management LLC now owns 37,436 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,755,000 after acquiring an additional 15,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brendel Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Popular during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,660,000. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Popular

In related news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 2,360 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.50, for a total value of $312,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 57,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,611,992.50. This represents a 3.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 1,451 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 3,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $481,002.75. The trade was a 29.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 2.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BPOP. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Popular from $153.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $142.00 price target on shares of Popular in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Popular in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Bank of America raised Popular from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Credit Suisse Group set a $156.00 target price on Popular in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $156.55.

Popular Price Performance

NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $130.38 on Monday. Popular, Inc. has a 12-month low of $78.23 and a 12-month high of $149.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $134.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $125.50.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The bank reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $806.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $811.55 million. Popular had a return on equity of 13.70% and a net margin of 18.75%.During the same period last year, the company earned $2.51 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

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

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.