Popular, Inc. $BPOP Shares Purchased by Verition Fund Management LLC

Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 719,253 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,336 shares during the quarter. Popular makes up 0.4% of Verition Fund Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Verition Fund Management LLC owned 1.08% of Popular worth $89,561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Popular by 85.2% in the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 680,282 shares of the bank’s stock worth $84,709,000 after buying an additional 312,984 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in Popular by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 2,871 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Fieldview Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Popular by 41.2% during the 4th quarter. Fieldview Capital Management LLC now owns 52,874 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,584,000 after acquiring an additional 15,438 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in Popular by 103.6% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 69,114 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,606,000 after acquiring an additional 35,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Popular during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total value of $920,762.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,671,480.05. This trade represents a 35.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,500 shares of company stock valued at $4,415,870. 2.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Popular Stock Performance

BPOP stock opened at $160.95 on Monday. Popular, Inc. has a one year low of $102.56 and a one year high of $161.26. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $148.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.89, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.62.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.30 by $0.48. Popular had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 20.10%.The firm had revenue of $816.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.54 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 15.14 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, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is 22.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Popular from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Zacks Research lowered Popular from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Popular from $155.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup raised their price target on Popular from $170.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Popular from $135.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Popular currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.73.

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.