Popular, Inc. $BPOP Shares Sold by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC cut its stake in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 78.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 55,280 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 203,237 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Popular were worth $7,417,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BPOP. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Popular by 56.2% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Popular during the 4th quarter valued at about $104,955,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Popular by 85.2% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 680,282 shares of the bank’s stock worth $84,709,000 after acquiring an additional 312,984 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Popular by 2,752.6% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,684,000 after acquiring an additional 301,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceeto Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in Popular in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,115,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BPOP. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Popular from $135.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Popular from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Popular from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Popular from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Popular from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Popular presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $171.18.

Popular Trading Down 0.8%

BPOP stock opened at $165.79 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $152.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $139.61. The company has a market capitalization of $10.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.24, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.62. Popular, Inc. has a twelve month low of $108.74 and a twelve month high of $169.14.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.30 by $0.48. Popular had a net margin of 20.10% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The firm had revenue of $816.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.54 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Popular, Inc. will post 15.13 EPS for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is 22.16%.

Insider Transactions at Popular

In related news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 23,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $3,450,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 34,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,188,200. The trade was a 39.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,671,480.05. This represents a 35.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,500 shares of company stock valued at $4,415,870. Insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

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.