Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) EVP Sells 8,500 Shares of Stock

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) EVP Luis Cestero sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.36, for a total value of $1,499,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 16,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,824,052.68. The trade was a 34.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Popular Price Performance

BPOP stock traded down $1.37 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $176.15. 80,884 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 538,109. Popular, Inc. has a 12-month low of $108.74 and a 12-month high of $179.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $164.90 and its 200 day moving average is $148.80. The company has a market cap of $11.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.61.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $4.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.72 by $0.63. The business had revenue of $846.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $878.41 million. Popular had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 21.37%.During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.09 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 15.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. Popular’s payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Popular from $178.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Popular from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Popular from $163.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $198.00 target price (up from $190.00) on shares of Popular in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Popular from $192.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Popular currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $185.25.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Popular

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Popular in the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,914,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Popular by 108.3% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 149,094 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $24,478,000 after buying an additional 77,507 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Popular by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,240 shares of the bank’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Popular by 30.5% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 321 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Popular by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 465,720 shares of the bank’s stock worth $62,486,000 after acquiring an additional 35,226 shares during the period. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.