Insider Selling: Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) EVP Sells $920,762.00 in Stock

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total value of $920,762.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,255 shares in the company, valued at $1,671,480.05. The trade was a 35.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Popular Price Performance

BPOP traded down $1.31 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $148.04. 499,232 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 560,771. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $138.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $129.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.63. Popular, Inc. has a 52 week low of $97.08 and a 52 week high of $152.95.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $822.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.54 million. Popular had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 20.10%.During the same period last year, the company earned $2.56 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 14.84 EPS for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 18th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 18th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.16%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Popular

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Popular by 23.1% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 94,352 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,715,000 after purchasing an additional 17,729 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Popular during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $257,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Popular by 60.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 223,530 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,647,000 after buying an additional 84,327 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in Popular during the first quarter valued at $207,000. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Popular in the second quarter worth $252,000. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Popular from $135.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Popular from $141.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research downgraded Popular from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Popular from $156.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Popular from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.73.

About Popular

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.